“The sun never sets
on the British Empire”, whatever the reasons be, either good, bad or evil. From
colonizing and brutalizing the larger part of African and Indian Subcontinent
to Preaching and savaging the world with regards to the “so called civilized
society”. It’s been self-explanatory.
“For all the Right Reasons”- Banning the Conversion
Theory
However, this time
the British may have made the headlines for striking the right chord. The
discussion of same sex orientation has been talk of the town for a very long
time. It’s been there for centuries and generations, and won’t end anytime
soon.
For most part of
the time and in most parts of the globe including India, it has often been
categorized as a Taboo.
Societies and
communities have not been the only entities which have shied away from
accepting and acknowledging the LGBTQIA individuals, but even the governments. And world
orders. We ignored it for a long time, now we can’t.
Exploitation and Brutality
People for some or
the other reasons haven’t been able to understand and accept the fact that
irrespective of the body that one is born into, one could be a totally
different individual within oneself- “a man with traits of femininity.
A woman with
masculinity, or an individual who hasn’t been able to decide as to what
attributes he/she possesses.
History hasn’t been
kind to these people. They have been brutalized in every single way that’s
possible. Unspeakable atrocities that one can’t even think off have been imposed
upon them.
They have been the
part of our society since the beginning of time .In the modern era, we have
counselors, support groups, LGBTQIA communities, movements and much more.
But when we think
of during the time before industrial revolution took place, 18th
century and before, they had no one to speak to or share their ordeal and daily
struggles.
Even as of now,
they have to go with the same sort of troubles on daily basis. Those people who
have not been able to acknowledge the sexual orientation of others, have often
termed it as an illness, disease, disorder and many more terrible things.
More or less same story pretty much prevails
across borders, communities, tribes and religion.
In fact, the ILGA
world report has found out that at least one or more than one sort of
Conversion ways are practiced in every single country in the world.
Hence, some thought
that in order to cure this a new self-proclaimed mandate needs to be passed
which they refer to as conversion therapy. It does sound very fancy and liberal,
but in literal practice, it’s nowhere even close to it.
All sorts of cruel
ways have been forced upon the individuals. Of course, it initiates with a
conversation, there have been great orators that have been known in the history
for changing the world once and for all, but even the greatest of orators can’t
change the sexual orientation of an individual by simply talking their way into
it.
Since, no such
thing like counselling existed few centuries back, the one antidote that one
could think of are the religious preachers. They have resorted to pathetic ways
like corrective rapes and even exorcism. Even the top prominent churches have been
found wanting in these heinous practices.
Physical and Sexual
assault have been the most common forms of atrocities imposed upon the LGBTQIA individuals, in certain Arab and Communist countries, any person found to have
been practicing the same-sex marriages and relationships or even changing the
orientation of their physical appearance have been executed publicly.
Startling Numbers
To go by the
figures, the numbers of individuals who have been offered, forced or compelled
to be a part of any sort of conversion therapy is in hundreds of thousands. 2-10%
of the individuals of the LGBTQIA community have faced it. Considering the
individuals are numbered in millions, thousands have been forced to bear the
abuse.
In countries like
China, those figures are as high as 25%, and to add to that sudden
disappearances of many LGBTQIA individuals which are never to be found again,
dead or alive.
British Following the Queue
The Queen Elizabeth
II in her annual address to the House of Lords, declared that
the British Govt. will seek to ban all sorts of conversion therapy which is
aimed at any individual of LGBTQIA community in order to change their sexual
orientation which one prefers.
The Boris Johnson’s govt. was under
extreme pressure from various communities and prominent people since 2018, when
his predecessor, Theresa May promised to abolish these “Abhorrent” practices.
Things are not expected to change
overnight, it is not expected to be made a mandate right away. It is believed
that the British government will take consultations from many think tanks and
representatives about the legislation that needs to be implemented.
A proper law which would state how the
LGBTQIA individuals need to be protected and any person wanting to change their
Status-Quo by force shall be dealt with.
Since, over thousands of churches, mosques
and other religious places which are part of various communities known to have
been involved in some sort of conversion therapies in the name of religion and
faith based cleansing, needs to be regulated.
It’s won’t be wise to simply ask them
stop certain activities which they have been practicing for centuries and
expect it to accept the mandate hands down. A proper transformation of new law
must be implemented swiftly and peacefully.
Even though certain people who act as
counselors and help groups which believe that they can have peaceful
conversation with LGBTQIA individuals will function as long as it’s peaceful and
all stakeholders participate voluntarily.
To go along with it, the mandate will
also provide proper statutory, moral and financial to the victims and survivor.
There is a long way to go in this prospect, but the
silver lining is that at least the responsible people in the administration are
talking about it.
Britain is not the first one to think in
this direction, countries like Malta, Brazil and Puerto Rico have already
legislatively repelled any of these practices from existing in their homeland,
British should definitely follow the queue.
Written by – Subhankar Singh
Edited by – Adrija Saha
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