News Highlights
The mental illnesses and challenges that India’s LGBTQ people face need comprehensive and long-term solutions.
Who is LGBTQ?
- LGBTQ is a short form indicating the gender minorities like lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or queer.
Issues Faced by LGBTQ Community
Conflicts in Family
- Conflict and family disruptions resulting from sexual orientation and gender identity issues worsen as a result of poor communication.
Social Discrimination
- LGBTQ faced social discrimination and inequality mostly in employment and public gatherings.
Health Concerns
- LGBTQ communities remain at risk of lifelong mental illnesses and challenges.
- This can take the form of severe mental illness or transient and long-standing dysfunctional harmful behaviours.
- They are discriminated against from access to health facilities.
Other Issues
- They face issues like self-isolation and low self-confidence.
- They are subjected to intaking intoxicants like drugs.
- They face extreme distress and poor self-worth, resulting in self hate and suffering.
- The surrounding social stigma and social attitude cause mental stress on these community people.
How to Support?
- Every aspect of mental health work in India must include aspects of queer mental health issues, to destigmatize diverse gender and sexual identities.
- Building self-care skills among queer adolescents and youth.
- Capacity building and creating awareness.
LGBTQ Rights in India
National Legal Services Authority Vs. Union of India (2014)
- The SC finds that “recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue, but a human rights issue”.
Navtej Singh Johar vs. Union of India (2018)
- By removing portions of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that violate the fundamental rights of the LGBTQ community, the SC decriminalised homosexuality.
- The Supreme Court ruled that all classes of citizens are guaranteed equality before the law under Article 14 of the Constitution.
- According to a decision by the Supreme Court, Indian law should adopt the “Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Law in Relation to Issues of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.”
- The Yogyakarta Principles define human rights as including freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity.
- A team of international human rights experts created them in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2006.
Shafin Jahan v. Asokan K.M. and others (2018)
- According to the SC, having a partner of one’s choosing is a fundamental right, and this includes having a same-sex partner.
Content Source: The Hindu