Conversion therapy also called as "Gay Healing" is one of the most inhuman procedures used to “ALLEGEDLY CURE” Queerness and turn them Straight.

In May 2020, a 21-year-old queer woman committed suicide after being subjected to the excruciating pain and trauma during her visits to various conversion therapy centres; in an effort to cure her of her non-heterosexual orientation. Prior to their demise, the person narrated their experience and the toll that the therapy had on their mental and physical well-being.

For most LGBTQIA+ individuals, the struggle for acceptance is itself a very agonizing task. Individuals who do not confine to the societal norms of how people should look like, behave and love, they are subjected to conversion therapy. Such therapy usually includes electroconvulsive therapy, hypnosis, chemical castration, the administration of nausea-inducing drugs and other inhumane procedures.  This leads to depression, anxiety, seizures, drug use and suicidal tendencies for the individuals involved.

It is a violation of human rights when LGBTQIA+ individuals are subjected to various forms of systemic violence such as corrective rape and hormone treatments. The Indian Psychiatric Society in 2018 categorically mentioned that homosexuality is not a psychiatric disorder. There is nothing to cure in any person who identifies with any sexual orientation or gender. 

Such procedures are inherently unconstitutional as they violate fundamental rights to life, personal identity, liberty, privacy and freedom of expression of LGBTQIA+ persons under the Indian Constitution. The Supreme Court in its judgment in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, decriminalizing Section 377, expressly held against conversion therapies and directed mental health practitioners to adopt a progressive approach in accordance with human rights. It also directed the government to actively work towards reducing the stigma attached with LGBTQIA+ individuals. 

LGBTQIA+ lives are not up for debate, and their identities are not up for others to validate, fix, destroy or change. 

I urge you to sign this petition. Such inhumane procedures have no place in today’s world.