CONVERSION THERAPY

• The National Medical Commission(NMC), the apex regulatory body of Indian medical professionals, has written to all State Medical Councils, banning conversion therapy and calling it a "Professional Misconduct".
• NMC was following a Madras High Court directive to issue an official notification listing conversion therapy as a wrong, under the Indian Medical Council Regulations, 2002.

• Conversion or Reparative therapy is an intervention aimed at changing the sexual orientation or gender identity of an individual with the use of either Psychiatric treatment, drugs, exorcism or violence, with the aim being to make the individual a heterosexual.
• The conversion therapy umbrella also includes efforts to change the core identity of youth whose gender identity is incongruent with their sexual anatomy.
• The therapy is offered by quacks with little expertise in dealing with the issue.
• According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry(AACAP), the interventions under conversion therapy are provided under the false premise that homosexuality & diverse gender identities are pathological.
• The absence of pathology means there is no need for conversion or any other intervention.
• According to AACAP & other health experts, conversion therapy poses the risk of causing or exacerbating mental health conditions, like anxiety, stress & drug use which sometimes even lead to suicide.

• The Madras High Court Justice in 2021, gave a landmark ruling on a case that was heard about the ordeal of a same-sex couple who sought police protection from their parents.
• Pending adequate legislation more protective of the community, the Justice issued a slew of interim guidelines for the police, activists, Union & State Welfare Ministries and the National Medical Commission to ensure their safety, and security to lead a life chosen by the people.
• The ruling prohibited any attempt to medically cure/change the sexual orientation of LGBTQIA+ people.(Lesbiam, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, asexual)
• It urged the authorities to take action against professionals involved in any form of conversion therapy which could include the withdrawal of licence to practice medicine.
• On July 8, 2022, the court gave an order to the National Medical Commission directing it to issue necessary official notification by enlisting conversion therapy as professional misconduct.

• The Madras High Court directed the police, to close complaints of missing persons' cases, without subjecting them to harassment, if it found on investigation that the parties were adults belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community.
• The court asked the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment to draw up a list of NGOs & other groups which could handle the issues faced by the community & gave it a time of eight weeks from the date of order.
• The court pulled up the Ministry for failing to compile a comprehensive list.
• The community should be provided with legal assistance by the District Legal Services Authority in coordination with law enforcement agencies.
• Asking agencies to follow the Transgender Persons Rules, 2020 & the Transgender Persons Act, 2019, the court said it was imperative to hold sensitisation programmes for an all-out effort to understand the community & its needs.

• Experts say schools & colleges must effect changes in curriculum for a better understanding of the community.
• Medical books listed Homosexuality & lesbianism as perversion.
• People of different sexual orientations or gender identities often narrate harrowing tales of bullying, discrimination, stigma, and ostracisation.
• Gender-neutral restrooms should be compulsory in educational institutes& other places.
• Parents need to be sensitised, because the first point of misunderstanding & abuse often begins at home, with teenagers being forced to opt for conversion therapies.
• Health Professionals point out that even adults opting for sex reassignment surgeries need to get proper guidance like therapy pre & post-operation, for an individual the cost can be prohibitive.