To educate students about LGBTQ issues, the Madras High Court advised revisions to school and university curricula
The Madras High Court has proposed a number of measures to educate the public and various institutions such as the police and judiciary in order to eliminate prejudices towards the LGBTQ community and ensure that they are integrated into society. The court also suggested that school and university curricula be revised to better educate students. According to Bar and Bench, the Court further imposed harsh punishment for anyone or institutions found to be attempting and claiming to cure or modify sexual orientation. Justice N Anand Venkatesh handed down the decision in response to a lesbian couple’s request for legal protection from their family.
The following are some of the Court’s major directives:
Parent-Teacher meetings should be utilised to educate parents about LGBTQIA+ concerns and to ensure that families are supportive.
To accommodate students from the LGBTQIA+ community in school and college, necessary changes should be made to existing policies.
Ensure that gender-nonconforming students have access to gender-neutral toilets.
Transgender students can have their names and genders changed on their academic records.
Inclusion of a third gender column in application forms for admission, competitive entrance tests, and other such events, in addition to the M and F gender columns.
Appointment of LGBTQIA+ professionals and counsellors to respond to complaints and provide effective services
Mental health camps and awareness programmes to promote acceptance of diversity and to better understand gender, sexuality, and sexual orientation.
Attempts and claims to ‘cure’ or modify the sexual orientation of LGBTIQA+ people should be illegal, and professionals involved in any form or manner of conversion ‘therapy’ should be sanctioned.
Conduct awareness programmes for judicial officers with the help of NGOs and community support, and make recommendations to ensure that LGBTQIA+ people are not discriminated against.
Outreach initiatives aimed at bringing problems to the attention of law enforcement officials and training them to provide appropriate assistance. Medical attempts to ‘cure’ sexual orientation were likewise outlawed by the court. The measures are aimed at many branches of the government, including the police and the judiciary. On a petition by a lesbian couple seeking protection from their family, Justice N Anand Venkatesh issued the ruling.
In his order, Venkatesh stated, “Ignorance is no reason for normalising any type of bigotry.” Educators should contact parents to help “sensitise parents on issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community and gender nonconforming students, ensuring supportive families,” according to his decree. The order was praised by activists as a significant step toward equality for underprivileged communities. Although the court cannot enforce such widespread change with a single judgement, government departments cannot ignore the requirement to report on their compliance plans. The judge’s arguments could also be used as precedent in future instances.
Though there have been some steps upward in recent years, social attitudes remain primarily conservative. In 2018, the Supreme Court unanimously legalised gay sex, and another law was passed in 2019 to safeguard transgender rights, albeit a section requiring transgender persons to obtain a certificate to establish their status caused controversy.
