LGBTQI2A+ Inclusion Champion In Asia Award up for grabs

by David Itai

Hong Kong, China

Community Business, a leadership business company, has launched an LGBTQI2A+ Inclusion Champion In Asia Award.

According to the company, the Award is set to help companies in developing a strategic approach to diversity and inclusion in Asia highlighting and examining key issues from a local market perspective, facilitating dialogue and sharing best practice, tools and resources.

In addition, the company stated that its focus is on tackling workplace inequality in accordance with the United Nations (UN)'s Sustainable Development Goal 5, Gender Equality, which seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’ and Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities, which seeks to reduce inequality within and among countries.

According to a 2020 research article by Holning Lau, "Courts have played an integral part in advancing the rights of the LGBTQI2A+ communities in many parts of Asia. Yet courts in other parts of Asia have entrenched LGBTQI2A+ subordination. A vast expanse separates Asia’s most progressive LGBTQI2A+'s judicial decisions from the most oppressive. This divergence stems from various factors, including differences among Asian courts’ judicial philosophies and cultural backdrops.

Judicial developments in Asia have disrupted conventional narratives in Anglophone literature about LGBTQI2A+ rights. Conventional wisdom says there is a standard sequence for developing LGBTQI2A+ rights. It is commonly believed that countries will protect sexual orientation rights before gender identity rights, that they will legislate against discrimination before legalizing same-sex marriage, and that legal protections of LGBTQI2A+ rights begin in the West, and then the rest of the world subsequently imports these legal constructs. Developments in Asia have, however, challenged these narratives.

While many Asian courts have galvanized reforms to protect LGBTQI2A+ rights, it is important to remember that these courts are nonetheless constrained in their ability to effectuate change. Case studies from Asia demonstrate that protecting LGBTQI2A+ rights often requires political branches of government to cooperate with courts. Political actors may resist implementing court-ordered reforms, especially if public opinion does not support the reforms.

To nominate for the LGBTQI2A+ INCLUSION CHAMPION IN ASIA AWARD sponsored by Credit Suisse 2022 Community Business Awards please visit https://t.co/Zv15i9VEEo. Nominations close on the 31st of January 2022.