A Report on LGBT Health, Equity, and Human Rights in India

This report examines the health and human rights issues faced by the LGBT community in India. It begins with an introduction to the topic, defining the LGBT population and highlighting their marginalization. The background section provides historical context, including the impact of British colonialism and the 2018 Supreme Court ruling legalizing homosexuality. The report then delves into specific health challenges, such as psychological issues, lack of access to quality healthcare, and emotional torture. It discusses discrimination by healthcare professionals and the lack of awareness among counselors. The human rights section explores the violation of LGBT rights in India, despite constitutional amendments. The report analyzes discrimination in various settings and the need for the community to fight for their rights. It concludes by reiterating the ongoing social injustices and discrimination faced by the LGBT community in India, emphasizing the need for continued awareness and support. The report references various sources to support its findings.

Running head: LGBT ISSUES IN INDIA 1
LGBT issues in India
Name
Institution affiliate

LGBT ISSUES IN INDIA 2
Introduction
The LGBT population around the world is one of the smallest and marginalized
communities around the globe (Byne, 2014). As a reason of their sexual orientation that violates
the social and moral norms, the community has been viewed as a lesser human being who results
to the violation of their rights and denial of social needs such as health and emotional rights. This
has called for the intervention of human right bodies to come out and speak out for these
communities for their right not to be violated and advocating for their recognition and calling for
the governments to legalize LGBT rights. It is illegal and unnatural in most of the country to
engage in gay activities and it is punishable by law, but this being a crime of human sexual
violation some countries like India have legalized. In this case, I will discuss the issues
pertaining to LGBT and challenges the LGBT communities are facing in India.
Definition
Lesbianism, gay, bisexual and transgender is the group of the third gender among the
world population. The group has been existence but in secretion due to their sexual orientation.
According to the human right, the group has continued to gain popularity and seeking justice for
recognition as a community and seeking the legalization of their rights (Wagaman, 2016).
Background
India is one of the seventh largest countries, most populous and most populous in
democracy in the world. India has a population of more than 1.3 billion people with the highest
birth rate per second. The country has 8% of members of LGBT and 2.5 million people are gay.
Historically homosexuality was prevalent and has never been considered evil in India until the
British colonial reign in the 18th century which made homosexuality punishable by law for about

LGBT ISSUES IN INDIA 3
ten years. In September 2018 a constituted 5 judge bench of Supreme Court invalidated part of
377 section of the constitution legalizing homosexuality. In 2012 it was recorded that 2.5 million
people are gay as recorded in the health care of India but this number could rise since most of the
gay people do not conceal their identity and live in the closet for fear of being discriminated. The
invalidation of the constitution to legalize homosexuality has done less to the members since the
community has continued to face social injustices. The member of LGBT has no specific
demographic location and this has continued to fuel negative attitude towards people who
identified or perceived as homosexual or lesbianism. From the BBC world news website, the
legalizing of homosexual in India was received with uproar and was a way to make people know
homosexuality is normal and not a disease. The news continues to suggest that the victims,
especially in the village, are the most affected because of lack of information and discrimination
by their family and friends ("What it means to be gay in rural India", 2019).
Health issues
Members of LGBT faces major challenges in the community some of them being access
to the quality of government health services. Some of the health issues the community faces
include; psychological issues, lack of proper medical care, and emotional torture. Despite the
ruling to legalize the gay rights, and ensuring that the gay community has access to emergency
health care the community has continued to face injustices in the health care due to
discrimination by the health professionals. Many guy rapes are never reported due to the police
and in health sectors due to high stigmatization by the community (Lutwak, 2014).
Psychologically, there is a lack of competent councilors who can guide and give therapy to
children who are being oriented as LGBT. This leaves the children with no answered question on

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what is happening to their body. Psychological issues are one of the major issues members of
LGBT face in their daily life.
People view lesbianism and gay as a disease and avoid relating to the victims. No one
likes understanding their feeling which makes them most affected and neglected people in India
today. Psychological torture has made many of the group commit suicide due to lack of
acceptance by the communities. Emotional torture has also affected these groups which have led
some to change their sexual orientation. Some have claimed to lack partners and have opted to
live just the way they are. Others marry for the sake of fulfilling their marital rights but most of
the marriages have ended in divorce or live together for the sake of children and not for
companionship. The bigger problem being with psychiatrist being resistance to accepting that
LGBT is not the disease has played a small role in solving health issues in India. Many of the
members who have changed their gender find difficult to access health services for hormonal
therapy. Lack of awareness on sexual orientation is a major blow when it comes to counseling
(Byne, 2015). Many councilors have less information about gay and lesbian and this act as a
major hindrance when dealing with lesbians and gay patients. Reuters report that most of the
councilors learn about gay from their patients who advised them that the issues needed to be
handled with a lot of care and sensitivity.
After the legalization, the India psychiatrist society declared that homosexuality and
lesbianism is not a disease to prevent the psychiatrist from using conversion therapy which
aimed at converting homosexual patients to heterosexual ("India's doctors: from 'conversion' to a
conversation on LGBT+ issues", 2019). This was a means of treating the behavior with the
means of spiritual and psychological intervention. The Indian policy has given the member of
LGBT right for emergency health and also the ruling ensured that organizations are training

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health practitioner on how to deal with health issues related to LGBT patients. Today Health
Professionals for Queer Indians has trained more than a thousand health provider officers to deal
with LGBT health issues (Rosa, Fullerton & Keller, 2015).
Human right
In India human right is a core value that has been accepted with dignity and applied
across the board. Human right is applied to all the people despite race, ethnic and gender. The
major fundamental of the human right state that all human have a right to life and to liberty. But
being a signatory of conventional human right and being active in the protection of human right
through NHCR, the right on LGBT has ever been violated and the right of LGBT has not gained
any recognition in India in living with dignity. Section 377 of the India constitution has ever
been violated which hindered the same marriage sex. The violation called for the parliament to
make the amendment to the section which would allow the community right to marry ("LGBT
Rights Issues and Human Rights in India", 2014).
Despite the amendment of the constitution, the gay community has continued to face
discrimination from the section of communities. The religious group, the tradition, and the
conservatives continue to think that lesbianism is unethical, unnatural and have continued to
oppose the amendments of the constitution to legalize the community. The LGBT right continues
to be violated at work, school, and home leaving them with limited option of freedom. Injustice
among the community of LGBT has continued to rise to deny the right to services and health.
The human right has called the member of different society to rise and fight for the right of
LGBT to ensure that they enjoy the freedom of association, liberty and the right to life just like
everyone else in Indian society. Criminalizing and violating against the organization that was

LGBT ISSUES IN INDIA 6
advocating for the right of members of LGBT was another violation of a human right. The
constitution was mandated to protect the right of every person to ensure social injustices never
occurred in the society and no group had the right to marginalize the community whatsoever
(Geetanjali Misra, 2009).
Conclusion
Despite the legalization of LGBT rights in India by amending the constitution in
September 2018, LGBT has continued to face social injustices and discrimination by members of
the society. Their health issues have been affected as a result of lack of awareness by the health
practitioners on matter LGBT health issues. The India psychiatrist society has continued to train
health professional on health matter associated with LGBT. The validation of GBT right by the
Indian government has continued to receive support from the world human rights and other non-
government organization to fight against violation of human right among the LGBT society. This
intervention has seen members of LGBT continue to receive proper health care and recognition
with equity among Indian societies. The LGBT awareness has continue to be propagate to inform
and educate the society about lesbianism and gay community and to ensure that society
understand that we are living in new era.

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References
Byne, W. (2014). A New Era for LGBT Health. LGBT Health, 1(1), 1-2. doi:
10.1089/lgbt.2013.1503
Byne, W. (2014). A New Era for LGBT Health. LGBT Health, 1(1), 1-2. doi:
10.1089/lgbt.2013.1503
Byne, W. (2015). Priorities to Address Gaps in LGBT Health Research. LGBT Health, 2(4), 285-
286. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2015.0129
Geetanjali Misra (2009) Decriminalising homosexuality in India, Reproductive Health Matters,
17:34, 20-28, DOI: 10.1016/S0968-8080(09)34478-X
India's doctors: from 'conversion' to conversation on LGBT+ issues. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-lgbt-health/indias-doctors-from-conversion-to-
conversation-on-lgbt-issues-idUSKCN1PT1HJ
LGBT Rights Issues and Human Rights in India. (2014). A Paper Presentation On 'LGBT Rights
Issues And Human Rights In India Respected Dignitaries And Delegates. Retrieved from
https://www.academia.edu/6477296/A_Paper_Presentation_on_LGBT_Rights_Issues_and_
Human_Rights_in_India_Respected_Dignitaries_and_Delegates

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Lutwak, N. (2014). Opportunity Also Knocks in the Emergency Room: Improved Emergency
Department Culture Could Dramatically Impact LGBT Perceptions of Healthcare. LGBT
Health, 1(3), 149-150. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2014.0021
Rosa, W., Fullerton, C., & Keller, R. (2015). Equality in Healthcare: The Formation and
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10.1089/lgbt.2014.0068
Wagaman, M. (2016). Self-definition as resistance: Understanding identities among LGBTQ
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10.1080/19361653.2016.1185760
What it means to be gay in rural India. (2019). Retrieved from
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-45430953