30 July 2023 , 14:34
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A man who is India's first openly gay prince has spoken of how his parents sought medical help to "convert" him when he told them.
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, the son and heir of the Maharaja of Rajpipla, is also one of India's foremost LGBT activists, but his own family was far from supportive when he shared his sexuality with them. Both his mother and father offered their help, but only to "convert" him.
In India, doctors continue to offer the "therapy" despite the medical community's consensus that the practice amounts to "medical misconduct", which is supported by the national regulator. In response, Prince Gohil has taken it up to the Supreme Court in an attempt to get the practice outlawed. The same court is currently involved in a bid to legalise gay marriage in India.
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, of Gujarat, is thought to be the first openly-gay Indian royal (Getty Images)Speaking about his own struggle with his parents, he told Sky News: "It was an absolute case of discrimination and violation of human rights. Whether I'm a prince or not a prince, parents have no right to put their children through [this] kind of torture."
His royal mum and dad had the bizarre idea that doctors would "perform a surgery on my brain, and even make me undergo electroshock therapy" to get rid of his sexuality. As they were trying to get the operation performed in the US, their attempts were rejected at every turn because doctors were very clear - that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.
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Doctors turned down his royal parents by telling them homosexuality is not a mental disorder (Sky News)
(Getty Images)"It didn't happen but imagine how much harassment one has to go through, how much humiliation one has to go through, just to endure this pain and suffering at the hands of parents - and this is happening to so many individuals in India," he added.
The prince publicly announced his sexuality in 2006, which sparked uproar across his home state of Gujarat. Furious homophobic crowds stormed the streets and burned effigies of him.
Despite the trauma he says he was forced to endure, the prince has reconciled with his parents. He added that he is one hundred per cent sure that his legal case will be successful due to an "open-mindedness" of the "Indian judicial system" nowadays.
Conversion therapy, also known as 'cure' therapy, is when members of the LGBTQIA+ community are told that their identity is something that can be cured. Specifically, it means any kind of treatment or therapy that attempts to force a person to change the gender they identify with or their sexuality.
Before its double U-turn the government had said: "There is no justification for these coercive and abhorrent practices and the evidence is clear that it does not work: it does not change a person from being LGBTQIA+ and can cause long-lasting damage to those who go through it."
Negative views on homosexuality are often based on people who are gay being branded 'un-Christian', due to common conflicts between religion and sexuality. It is often extremely religious people who attempt to 'convert' a loved one or fellow worshipper.
One brave survivor, George, told Ban Conversion Therapy: "They called in the pastor from another church since this was his ‘speciality’. I was naïve. I had no clue this was actually conversion therapy or what it would entail. It involved the laying on of hands and intensive prayer, the casting out of demons, being forced to describe my homosexual experiences and to repent publicly."
Conversion therapy can vary in severity, but even short sessions can cause damage to the victim's mental health.
Another survivor said: "I was then sent somewhere throughout the winter. I don’t know exactly where we were, but the conditions there were bad: we didn’t have much food or water, and the conversion therapy tactics were much more extreme. We were made to watch porn and kicked every time we reacted. We were stripped naked, blindfolded and sedated."