With an aim to stop harassment of LGBTIQA+ people, Tamil Nadu State Medical Council has declared โconversion therapyโ โ a method of counselling used for convincing them to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual or the gender identity of transgender people to cisgender โ as an act of โprofessional misconductโ.
In a notification, the council said that medical professionals performing โconversion therapyโ on members of the LGBTIQA+ community will face disciplinary action as per the provisions of the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulation, 2002.
The notification is in line with the directives of the Delhi-based National Medical Commission (NMC) based on the instructions issued by the Madras High Court earlier this year.
Welcoming the move, health experts as well as community leaders have said that it will go a long way in ensuring equal treatment and respect to LGBTIQA+ members and eradicating the stigma around their identity.
Dr Rajiv Mehta, consultant psychiatrist at the Institute of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science of Delhiโs Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said that โconversion therapyโ adds to the already prolonged trauma of the community members.
โConversion therapy i.e. forcing the LGBTQIA+ community by verbal counselling is definitely illegal because it prolongs their trauma,โ he told The New Indian.
Further explaining the therapy, Dr Mehta said, โIn this method, a practitioner tries to convince the subject to change their thought process. This is not logical. Some people use it as an opportunity to earn money by making the family believe that they are capable of changing the thought process.โ
However, sex change therapy is completely legal if it is not forced, he added.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a member of the community from Tamil Nadu, who has been a victim of the therapy, said that the councilโs direction is a step forward towards ensuring equality for them.
โThis development will take our society a step forward and will broadly help us to be what we are. Court rulings in our favour are good on paper if society keeps attaching the tag of โnormal and abnormalโ with us.โ
โWhy canโt society accept us as we are? Why cannot there be respect for how we think? Conversion therapy forces people like us to think what is โnormalโ to society,โ the person lamented.
In its notification, the state council: โTamil Nadu State Medical Council is conferred with powers to take disciplinary action on any complaint received with regard to any attempt/ interventions to change the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of a person, which is commonly referred to as โConversion Therapyโ, which will be construed as a professional misconduct on the part of the medical professionals and appropriate action shall be taken in accordance with the existing rules,โ it reads.
In July this year, the Madras High Court directed the NMC, the Indian Psychiatric Society and the Rehabilitation Council of India to initiate appropriate action, including withdrawal of practice licence, against medical professionals involved in any therapy meant to change the sexual identity of any member of the LGBTIQA+ community.
While hearing a matter related to the Draft Conduct Regulations 2022, Justice Anand Venkatesh of the high court had asked the NMC to ensure that all state medical councils notify the โconversion therapyโ as professional misconduct to bring uniformity in laws.
