India’s LGBTQ+ community continues to face healthcare barriers

Kanmani is a transgender woman living in New Delhi. When she visited a psychiatrist in 2019 for a letter to start gender transition, the doctor advised her accompanying parents to add pills, such as antipsychotic drugs and antidepressants, to her food without her consent for “treatment.” They refused to do anything without her knowledge. Another professional opined that any form of sexual intercourse was fine, but that changing gender goes against nature. Kanmani, a 26 year old legal researcher, says she feels hopeless sometimes and that it should not be so difficult for her to access medical services.

Elsewhere, a case at the Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu heard of the experiences of a gay man who was prescribed erectile dysfunction drugs and antidepressants as a remedy for his sexuality. The court took note of a report on the discriminatory language and references to LGBTQ+ identities in medical textbooks.1

These cases came in the three years since a landmark 2018 ruling by the Supreme Court of India that decriminalised consensual same sex relations between adults.2 Many of India’s LGBTQ+ people celebrated the ruling as a watershed move towards acceptance in their country. Yet today they continue to face barriers to accessing adequate healthcare and must deal with various forms of medical neglect.