New Delhi: The Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC), the state’s medical regulatory body, has issued an order banning conversion therapy — an illegal practice that queer people are subjected to in order to “cure” them—deeming it ‘professional misconduct’.
This comes in compliance with Madras High Court’s 8 July order after which the national medical regulatory body, the National Medical Council banned the practice under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 and issued a notification to all state medical councils on 25 August.
In the order issued on 2 December, the TNMC registrar, Dr R Shanmugam, said the Ethics and Medical Registration Board of the National Medical Commission has issued a notification terming conversion therapy as professional misconduct and strict disciplinary action will be taken on any complaint received with regard to any attempt/interventions to change the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of a person.
Conversion therapy is the attempt to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Sometimes referred to as reparative therapy, the practice may include talking therapies and prayer as well as extreme practices such as exorcism, physical violence, and food deprivation. These methods are used to try to stop or suppress a person’s sexual or gender identity in order to “cure” them by changing their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The state government made a submission before Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court. where it said that the Tamil Nadu Medical Council (TNMC) had notified ‘conversion therapy’ as professional misconduct and disciplinary action would be taken against the doctors performing the therapy.
DMK spokesperson and lawyer Manuraj Shanmugasundaram, working on numerous cases representing the LGBTQIA+ community, said this is the first but significant step towards eradicating conversion practices which are performed by medical professionals.
Also read: Shock and outrage won’t stop Indian parents forcing queer children into ‘conversion therapy’
Status of Tamil Nadu’s other policies to protect the LGBTQIA+ community
The state government has been developing a policy for protection of the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community since March this year after a series of interim order by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh following a protection plea filed in February this year, by Manuraj Shanmugasundaram, an advocate working on numerous cases representing the LGBTQIA+ community.
Regarding the status of the policy for LGBTQIA+ community, the government informed the court that the State Planning Commission had presented a draft of the policy before Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on 27 October this year. The policy was then forwarded to the state’s Social Welfare and Women Empowerment department on 15 November for further action.
After the policy was forwarded, the Director of Social Welfare conducted a virtual meeting with all stakeholders on the policy on 1 December and submitted a report to the government on 6 December.
The government requested the court to grant it an additional three months time to notify the policy as public comments had to be invited and considered before finalizing the policy. It assured the court that the policy to protect the LGBTQIA+ community would be published in three months.
Justice Venkatesh granted the government’s request, saying, “In the considered view of this court, the Tamil Nadu government is taking sincere efforts to address the issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community at large and the same is evident from various steps taken by the government.”
Justice Venkatesh granted the government’s request, saying, “In the considered view of this court, the Tamil Nadu government is taking sincere efforts to address the issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community at large and the same is evident from various steps taken by the government.”
The Tamil Nadu government has also been developing the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules in accordance with a 2019 Act, over the past year and was granted 12 weeks by the Madras High Court in August this year, to notify it on the completed policy.
In terms of the framing of statutory rules of the Act, the Additional Advocate General (AAG) S Silambanan, representing the state, stated that the process of publishing the draft rules in the gazette and inviting suggestions had been completed and that the rules would be notified by the end of this month.
The court adjourned further hearing on the case to 23 January 2023 for taking note of further developments and passing necessary orders.