The Indian state of Goa recently announced plans to launch a government-sponsored program that would apparently help members of the LGBT community overcome same-sex feelings. Speaking to the media, state sports and youth affairs minister Ramesh Tawadkar said homosexuality is a huge problem in India, which is why his government has proposed a program that would help young people learn ways in which they can live a normal life. Reportedly, the new law would categorize LGBT youth as a problem group that is in need of government intervention, just like academic dropouts, drug addicts and illegal migrants.
Tawadkar shared with the media how the state government, led by the Bharatiya Janta Party, intends to set up camps in order to treat lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals.
“They are that part of our society who have not yet experienced the true pleasures and bliss of life,” Tawadkar said. “What does a normal life feel like? Do they know? No.”
The state-sponsored program, which plans on offering its patients medicines and counseling among other services, is expected to identify LGBT individuals through a statewide poll. While this may be an optimistic approach, it is surely a misguided one, especially when one learns that India continues to criminalize same-sex relations. While Tawadkar did not clarify whether LGBT individuals would be prosecuted, he did say the law would be used to teach them right from wrong.
Soon after Tawadkar shared his government’s plans with the media, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar swooped in to defend the controversial comments. Parsekar said homosexuality is not a disease but a natural phenomenon, a quality that a person is born either with or without. After justifying that his colleague may have misunderstood the question, Parsekar recanted each of the details shared by Tawadkar.
“There's no cure for homosexuality and the government has no policy for ‘normalizing’ LGBTs,” he said.
Attention must be drawn to the fact that Goa’s proposed conversion therapy is morally reprehensible and scientifically unsound as well as a legal violation of a citizen’s right to freedom and privacy.
Photo Credits: Philly Gay Lawyer
