The ban on conversion therapy for the LGBTQIA+ community

The ban on conversion therapy for the LGBTQIA+ community

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context:

• The National Medical Commission (NMC), the apex regulatory body of medical professionals in India, has written to all State Medical Councils, banning conversion therapy and calling it a “professional misconduct”.
• In a letter dated August 25, it also empowered the State bodies to take disciplinary action against medical professionals who breach the guideline. The letter said the NMC was following a Madras High Court directive to issue an official notification listing conversion therapy as a wrong, under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquettes and Ethics) Regulations, 2002.

What is conversion therapy? What are the risks?

• 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 and even 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 sex anatomy.

What is the role of the Madras High Court in the ban?

• On June 7, 2021, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court gave a landmark ruling on a case he was hearing about the ordeal of a same-sex couple who sought police protection from their parents. Pending adequate legislation more protective of the community, Justice Venkatesh issued a slew of interim guidelines for the police, activists, Union and State Social Welfare Ministries, and the National Medical Commission to “ensure their safety and security to lead a life chosen by them.”
• The ruling prohibited any attempt to medically “cure” or change the sexual orientation of LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual or of any other orientation) people.
• It urged the authorities to take action against “professional involving themselves in any form or method 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 a professional misconduct.” The NMC issued the directive to State Medical Councils on August 25.

What were some of the other guidelines issued by the court?

• In its 2021 verdict, the Madras High Court directed the police, for example, to close complaints of missing persons’ cases, “without subjecting them to harassment”, if it found on investigation that the parties were consenting adults belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community.
• The court asked the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment to draw up a list of NGOs and other groups which could handle the issues faced by the community, and gave it a time of eight weeks from the date of the order. This March, the court pulled up the Ministry for failing to compile a comprehensive list.
• The court said 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 (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020, and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, in letter and spirit, the court said it was imperative to hold sensitisation programmes for an all-out effort to understand the community and its needs.

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020

• It provides for a right to self-perceived gender identity and casts an obligation on the district magistrate to issue a ‘certificate of identity’ as a transgender person, without the requirement of any medical or physical examination.

• It envisages that every establishment shall implement all measuresto ensure non-discrimination against any transgender person in any matter relating to employment including, but not limited to, infrastructure adjustments, recruitment, promotion and other related issues. The government has sought comments from stakeholders within the next 30 days.
• The policy will contain details of infrastructural facilities (such as unisex toilets), measures put in for safety and security (transportation and guards) and amenities (such as hygiene products) to be provided to the transgender persons to enable them to effectively discharge their duties.
• It also talks about adequate steps to be taken by the government to prohibit discrimination against transgender in any government or private organisation or establishment, including in the areas of education, employment, healthcare, public transportation, participation in public life, sports, leisure and recreation and opportunity to hold public or private office.
• National Portal for Transgender Persons:It has been launched in consonance with the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020.
• National Council for Transgender Persons:
  • Constitution of the NCT to advise the government for the formulation and monitoring of policies and redress the grievances of transgender persons.
• Every establishment has been mandated to designate a person as a complaint officer to handle complaints from transgender persons.
• Every state government will also have to set up a Transgender Protection Cell under District Magistrate and Director General of Police to monitor offence against transgender persons.