Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Coercion as conversion: On National Medical Commission decision against ‘conversion therapy’

Coercion as conversion: On National Medical Commission decision against ‘conversion therapy’

Sexual orientation and gender identities do not require medical intervention (चिकित्सा हस्तक्षेप)

In a significant and welcome (स्वागत, अभिलषित) move (कदम, क्रिया), another layer of discrimination (भेदभाव, पूर्वाग्रह, असहिष्णुता) against the LGBTQIA+ community is being removed with the National Medical Commission (NMC) (राष्ट्रीय चिकित्सा आयोग) declaring conversion therapy (रूपांतरण चिकित्सा) a “professional misconduct (wrongdoing, unlawfulness, criminality, crime, malpractice, misdeed, impropriety)” and empowering (सशक्तिकरण) State Medical Councils (राज्य चिकित्सा परिषद) to take disciplinary (अनुशासनात्मक, दंडात्मक, सुधारात्मक) action if the guideline is breached (उल्लंघन करना, तोड़ना). Members of the lesbian (समलैंगिक), gay (a person (especially a male person) who is physically and romantically attracted to other person (male person)), bisexual (someone who is bisexual does experience romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender), transgender (transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth), queer (some people may refer to themselves as queer because they find that preexisting sexual orientations or gender identities do not fit them. (They may feel that when they use the word “queer,” they can connect with LGBTQIA+ communities without having to label their sexual orientation or gender identity outright)), intersex (a person is born with a combination of male and female biological traits (characteristics/quality)), asexual (someone who is asexual doesn’t experience sexual attraction and/or doesn’t desire sexual contact) or of any other orientation are often subjected to (के अधीन हो, इलाज करना) conversion or ‘reparative’ therapy, particularly when they are young, to change their sexual orientation or gender identity (लिंग पहचान) by force. The therapy can mean anything from psychiatric (relating to mental illness and/or relating to mental treatment) treatment, use of psychosomatic (मनोदैहिक, मनश्चिकित्सा) drugs, electroshock therapy, exorcism (cleansing, purification; expulsion (of an evil spirit); The act of exorcism involves the expulsion of an evil spirit or demon who has taken residence inside a person) and violence. This can lead to (नेतृत्व करने के लिए, कारण बनना) trauma (torment, distress, suffering), manifesting ((of a disease) become noticeable/visible through the appearance of symptoms) in depression, anxiety, drug use, and even suicide. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (it is a non-profit professional medical organization whose mission is the promotion of mentally healthy children, adolescents, and families through research, training, advocacy, prevention, collaborative diagnosis and treatment, peer support, and collaboration) contends (state, assert, claim, affirm, pronounce, insist, aver) that the interventions offered in conversion therapy are provided under the “false premise that homosexuality (Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender) and gender diverse identities are pathological”. The “absence of pathology (a branch of medical science that involves the study and diagnosis of disease)” means there is no need for conversion or any other like intervention. To drive this point home, it is clear that an all-out (intense, aggressive, vigorous, powerful) effort will be required. In his landmark (milestone, watershed, historic event, major achievement) June 2021 judgment, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court had said pending adequate legislation (body of laws, acts, rules, regulations, statutes), he was issuing guidelines for the police, social welfare (it refers to the efforts made by the government and non-profit organisations to assist families living in poverty by providing medical care, public health services, assisting with household needs, and assisting with social adjustments, among other things) ministries of the State and Centre, and the medical council for the protection of the community. The court sought updates from stakeholders (a person with an interest in something) every few months.

The NMC’s August 25 letter to State Medical Councils states that the Madras High Court had directed it to issue an official notification listing conversion therapy as a wrong, under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct (behaviour, performance), Etiquette (proper behaviour, good manners, rules of conduct/protocol) and Ethics) Regulations, 2002. If the Supreme Court’s decriminalising (make legal, legitimate, validate) of homosexuality in 2018 by striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalises homosexuality. It states: “Whoever voluntarily has carnal inter­course against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with impris­onment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine”) was a first step, the NMC’s notice is also a small move towards inclusivity (the quality of being inclusive without excluding people on grounds of gender, race, class, disability & etc). To make the LGBTQAI+ community feel safer, however, a lot more will have to be done. Taking the cue from countries such as Canada, which has banned conversion therapy, there should be clarity on what action will be taken against quacks, psychiatrists and doctors accused of offering reparative treatment and the punishment they will face. The groundwork has to be laid in education. Medical textbooks prescribed (stipulate, lay down, specify) in 2018 still consider lesbianism a “perversion (distortion, misrepresentation, falsification/misinterpretation)”, an act of “mental degenerates (In psychiatry, deterioration denotes a progressive impairment or decline of intellectual and personality functions such as memory, reasoning, concentration, communication, and emotional response)”. The change has to take place at a societal (relating to society or social relations) level, and complemented (supplement, augment, enhance, accompany, be the perfect addition to) by laws better tuned to the needs of a diverse community than the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (An Act to provide for protection of rights of transgender persons and their welfare and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto), has sought to do. To that effect, Indian institutions and society have a long road ahead (need to have a huge amount of effort in the future (before being successful). First, they will have to acknowledge (accept, recognize, realize) the “variability of human beings” and accord (give, grant, present) equal respect to every one, whatever the sexual orientation or gender identity.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.National Medical Commission (NMC) (noun)

Hindi Meaning - राष्ट्रीय चिकित्सा आयोग
English Meaning - The National Medical Commission (NMC) has been constituted by an act of Parliament known as National Medical Commission Act, 2019 which came into force on 25.9.2020. It is an Indian regulatory body of 33 members which regulates medical education and medical professionals. It replaced the erstwhile Medical Council of India constituted under section 3A of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.

2.conversion therapy (noun)

Hindi Meaning - रूपांतरण चिकित्सा
English Meaning - it is also known as “reparative therapy”. It is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, or expression.

3.gender identity (noun)

Hindi Meaning - लिंग पहचान
English Meaning - the personal sense of one’s own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person’s assigned sex at birth or can differ from it.

4.medical intervention (noun)

Hindi Meaning - चिकित्सा हस्तक्षेप
English Meaning - In medicine, a treatment, procedure, or other action taken to prevent or treat disease, or improve health in other ways.

5.welcome (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - स्वागत, अभिलषित
English Meaning - pleasing, gratifying, heartening, promising.

6.move (noun)

Hindi Meaning - कदम, क्रिया
English Meaning - action, act, step, measure.

7.discrimination (noun)

Hindi Meaning - भेदभाव, पूर्वाग्रह, असहिष्णुता
English Meaning - prejudice, intolerance, inequity, bigotry, unfairness, partisanship (against an individual or group of individuals by society and its institutions (basically in the procedures, policies or objectives) as a whole.

8.empower (verb)

Hindi Meaning - सशक्तिकरण
English Meaning - authorize, allow, entitle.

9.State Medical Council (noun)

Hindi Meaning - राज्य चिकित्सा परिषद
English Meaning - it means a medical council constituted under any law for the time being in force in any State regulating the registration of practitioners of medicine.

10.disciplinary (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - अनुशासनात्मक, दंडात्मक, सुधारात्मक
English Meaning - punitive, corrective, correctional, reformatory, penal.

11.breach (verb)

Hindi Meaning - उल्लंघन करना, तोड़ना
English Meaning - contravene, violate, infringe, break, disobey, defy, flout.

12.lesbian (noun)

Hindi Meaning - समलैंगिक
English Meaning - a woman who is physically and romantically attracted to other women.

13.be subjected to (Verb)

Hindi Meaning - के अधीन हो, इलाज करना
English Meaning - put through, treat with, undergo, expose to, lay open to.

14.psychosomatic (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - मनोदैहिक, मनश्चिकित्सा
English Meaning - ​(of an illness) caused by emotional factors (stress, worry, etc.) rather than by a physical problem such as a disease/an infection.

15.lead to (verb)

Hindi Meaning - नेतृत्व करने के लिए, कारण बनना
English Meaning - cause, produce, bring about, result in, give rise to.

16.coercion (noun)

English Meaning - it means compelling an individual to act against his/her will by the use of psychological pressure or physical force causing bodily injury; force/pressure, compulsion, enforcement, demand, constraint, oppression, harassment, intimidation.

17.sexual orientation (noun)

English Meaning - the emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction that a person feels toward another person.

18.LGBTQIA+ community (noun)

English Meaning - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual (and many other terms) Community.

19.misconduct (noun)

English Meaning - wrongdoing, unlawfulness, criminality, crime, malpractice, misdeed, impropriety.

20.gay (noun)

English Meaning - a person (especially a male person) who is physically and romantically attracted to other person (male person).

21.bisexual (noun)

English Meaning - someone who is bisexual does experience romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender.

22.transgender/trans people (noun)

English Meaning - transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth.

23.queer (noun)

English Meaning - some people may refer to themselves as queer because they find that preexisting sexual orientations or gender identities do not fit them. (They may feel that when they use the word “queer,” they can connect with LGBTQIA+ communities without having to label their sexual orientation or gender identity outright).

24.intersex (noun)

English Meaning - a person is born with a combination of male and female biological traits (characteristics/quality).

25.asexual (noun)

English Meaning - someone who is asexual doesn’t experience sexual attraction and/or doesn’t desire sexual contact.

26.psychiatric (adjective)

English Meaning - relating to mental illness and/or relating to mental treatment.

27.exorcism (noun)

English Meaning - cleansing, purification; expulsion (of an evil spirit); The act of exorcism involves the expulsion of an evil spirit or demon who has taken residence inside a person.

28.trauma (noun)

English Meaning - torment, distress, suffering.

29.manifest (verb)

English Meaning - (of a disease) become noticeable/visible through the appearance of symptoms.

30.American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) (noun)

English Meaning - it is a non-profit professional medical organization whose mission is the promotion of mentally healthy children, adolescents, and families through research, training, advocacy, prevention, collaborative diagnosis and treatment, peer support, and collaboration.

31.contend (verb)

English Meaning - state, assert, claim, affirm, pronounce, insist, aver.

32.premise (noun)

English Meaning - reason, cause, basis, ground, factor, pretext, motive.

33.homosexuality (noun)

English Meaning - Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender.

34.pathological (adjective)

English Meaning - relating to pathology (a branch of medical science that involves the study and diagnosis of disease).

35.pathology (noun)

English Meaning - a branch of medical science that involves the study and diagnosis of disease.

36.hammer/drive something home (phrase)

English Meaning - to make someone clearly understand something by emphasizing it repeatedly.

37.all-out (adjective)

English Meaning - intense, aggressive, vigorous, powerful.

38.landmark (noun as modifier)

English Meaning - milestone, watershed, historic event, major achievement.

39.legislation (noun)

English Meaning - body of laws, acts, rules, regulations, statutes.

40.social welfare (noun)

English Meaning - it refers to the efforts made by the government and non-profit organisations to assist families living in poverty by providing medical care, public health services, assisting with household needs, and assisting with social adjustments, among other things.

41.sought past tense of seek (verb)

English Meaning - ask for, request, demand.

42.stakeholder (noun)

English Meaning - a person with an interest in something.

43.conduct (noun)

English Meaning - behaviour, performance.

44.etiquette (noun)

English Meaning - proper behaviour, good manners, rules of conduct/protocol.

45.Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 (noun)

English Meaning - This Act provides constitution of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the maintenance of a Medical Register for India and for matters connected there with. The council has made regulations for “standards of professional conduct, etiquette and code of ethics” which should be observed by medical practitioners. These are mandatory and followed by all other State Medical Councils.

46.decriminalise (verb)

English Meaning - make legal, legitimate, validate.

47.strike down (phrasal verb)

English Meaning - abolish, annul, nullify (a law or regulation).

48.Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (noun)

English Meaning - Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalises homosexuality. It states: “Whoever voluntarily has carnal inter­course against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with impris­onment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine”.

49.Indian Penal Code (IPC) (noun)

English Meaning - The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The draft was passed into law on 6 October 1860. The Code came into operation on 1 January 1862. The Indian Penal Code of 1860, subdivided into 23 chapters, comprises 511 sections. IPC deals with crimes and punishments.

50.inclusivity (noun)

English Meaning - the quality of being inclusive without excluding people on grounds of gender, race, class, disability & etc.

51.take one’s cue from (phrase)

English Meaning - follow the advice of someone, be highly influenced by someone; follow, imitate, copy, mimic.

52.lay the groundwork for (phrase)

English Meaning - prepare the way for, pave the way for, open the way for, set the scene for.

53.prescribe (verb)

English Meaning - stipulate, lay down, specify.

54.perversion (noun)

English Meaning - distortion, misrepresentation, falsification/misinterpretation.

55.mental degeneration (noun)

English Meaning - In psychiatry, deterioration denotes a progressive impairment or decline of intellectual and personality functions such as memory, reasoning, concentration, communication, and emotional response.

56.societal (adjective)

English Meaning - relating to society or social relations.

57.complement (verb)

English Meaning - supplement, augment, enhance, accompany, be the perfect addition to.

58.Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (noun)

English Meaning - An Act to provide for protection of rights of transgender persons and their welfare and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto.

59.have a long road ahead (phrase)

English Meaning - need to have a huge amount of effort in the future (before being successful.

60.acknowledge (verb)

English Meaning - accept, recognize, realize.

61.accord (verb)

English Meaning - give, grant, present.