DCW Demands Suitable Action On Illegal Conversion Therapy Training For LGBTQI+ Community

The Commission has sought from the National Medical Commission the proper guidelines and advisories to be issued by them when it comes to banning conversion therapy of LGBTQIA+ persons in India.

DCW has written to the National Medical Commission asking for a copy of the enquiry report pertaining to the case of conversion therapy.

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The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Saturday sought appropriate action against illegal conversion therapy training that is being done for the LGBTQI+ community, reported news agency PTI. In an official notice issued by it to the National Medical Commission, the DCW asked for suitable action against any conversion therapy being advertised under the banner of the ‘World Congress of Psychologists’.

The (DCW) has taken a suo moto cognisance of an advertisement being circulated on social media with claims of conducting conversion therapy.

It said the advertisement claimed that an organisation called the 'World Congress of Psychologists' with its Head Office at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh is conducting a three-month training programme on Psychosomatic Disorders, reported PTI. I also said the therapy will start on March 10.

A panel at the DCW said that this particular organisation seems to be offering conversion therapy in order to resolve around 47 different types of disorders. The list of such disorders included homosexuality, lesbianism and transvestism.

The panel said this is being done despite an established fact that homosexuality, lesbianism and transvestism are not psychosomatic disorders, reported PTI.

More than 50 years ago, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a resolution stating that homosexuality is not a mental illness or sickness. 

It also said that conversion therapies are a set of pseudo-scientific practices which target the LGBTIQA+ to force them into changing their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

The panel also cited the Madras High Court judgement in 2021, in which the court observed any efforts to medically "cure" or change the sexual orientation of LGBTIQA+ people to heterosexual or the gender identity of transgender people to cisgender is prohibited, reported news agency PTI.

The same court had also ordered the National Medical Commission, the Indian Psychiatric Society and The Rehabilitation Council of India to take suitable action against the concerned professionals who were involved in any form or method of conversion therapy.

I also included the withdrawal of license to practice for someone who indulged in a practice that is illegal.

Taking that order as the basis of its arguments, the National Medical Commission (NMC) announced conversion therapy to be illegal. It also keeps it in the category of 'Professional Misconduct' and has banned the practice under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, reported PTI.

However, the panel described the prevalence of conversion therapy and such programmes as unfortunate.

DCW has written to the chairman of the National Medical Commission and has asked for a copy of the enquiry report pertaining to the case.

The Commission has also sought from the National Medical Commission the proper guidelines and advisories to be issued by them when it comes to banning conversion therapy of LGBTQIA+ persons in India.