Written by Shruti Sharma
Madras High Court has recently directed the National Medical Commission to enlist “Conversion Therapy” as professional misconduct.
The court noted that only gender-based discrimination had been included as misconduct and “Conversion Therapy” was conspicuously absent. The petitioners, in their submissions, also made reference to the Legislation in other countries with respect to conversion therapy and the United Nations report of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Senior Panel Counsel for the NCERT also submitted that a module titled Training Module on Integrating Transgender Concerns in Schooling Process has been developed based on the earlier training material `Inclusion of Transgender Children in School Education: Concerns and Roadmap’ and in consultation with the different stakeholders. It was submitted that timelines have been fixed by NCERT and training for sensitization of different stakeholders of school education shall start from the coming academic session.
The bench had previously issued guidelines against harassment of the community by Police authorities, and had directe for change in queerphobic curriculum. The court had also accepted the standardised guidelines/ prospective glossar submitted by the state government for referring to LGBTQ+ persons and had instructed the press/ media to follow th glossary in letter and spirit. The court also published in its order a Tamil glossary of LGBTQ+ terms prepared by quee communities and individuals. The court had also directed the State to organise a program for sensitizing school teacher on dealing with issues relating to children belonging to the LQBTQ+ community.
