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.
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).
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 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).
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 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 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).
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 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.
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
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 Ongoing Legacy of an LGBT Advisory Council. LGBT Health, 2(4), 292-296. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2014.0068
Wagaman, M. (2016). Self-definition as resistance: Understanding identities among LGBTQ emerging adults. Journal Of LGBT Youth, 13(3), 207-230. doi: 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
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