Kerala High Court directs National Medical Commission to review Queerphobic MBBS texts

On third anniversary of the landmark ruling of the Supreme Court decriminalising consensual homosexual acts, the Kerala High Court has directed the National Medical Commission and the Undergraduate Medical Education Board to expeditiously take action to address the use of outdated, inhuman and discriminatory language and concepts used in MBBS textbooks while referring to the LGBTQIA+ community. (Queerythm and Anr. v. National Medical Commission and Ors.).A Division bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly issued the directions while disposing a Public Interest Litigation filed by two NGOs, Queerythm and Dhisha seeking removal of parts of commonly used MBBS textbooks that stereotypes queer community's sexual and gender identities as an offence, mental disorder or perversion. .Counsel for the petitioners, Advocate Legith T Kottakkal confirmed to Bar & Bench that the Court remarked orally that this was "a serious issue" and directed the relevant authorities to take immediate action. .It was the contention of the petitioners that the queer-phobic content in the textbooks violates the rights of queer individuals under Articles 14, 17, 19, 21 of the Constitution of India. Moreover, the Medical Board has not revised the curriculum despite judgments of the Supreme Court recognising transgender rights and decriminalising homosexuality."Supreme Court of India has recognised Transgender as a Gender Identity in National Legal Service Authority vs Union Of India and legalised consensual homosexuality between adults in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India . The parliament enacted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 recognising the rights and to provide for protection of rights of transgender persons and their welfare. The text books mentioned above and the curriculum is not modified on the lines of the development of law and social changes", the plea said.In Navtej Singh Johar, the top court opined that classifying sexual offenses as 'natural' and 'unnatural' is both absurd and legally invalid, however current medical textbooks still use such terminology, the petitioners stated. .The petitioner organisations conducted detailed research into the textbooks in the curriculum of the Kerala University of Health Sciences. They also got inputs from medical students belonging to the queer community who, according to the petitioners, informed them of the discomfort of having to read discriminatory descriptions of their own identities and that those who were open about their identities were often met with bullying and discrimination from fellow medical students. The petitioners submitted representations before the relevant authorities with the results of the research conducted by them and the difficulties faced by the LGBTQIA+ community in the medical field. However, it was stated that neither the National Medical Board nor the Undergraduate Medical Education Board has responded to the concerns raised by them.The petitioners urged the Court to issue necessary orders in the matter which they apprehended would lead to presence of more queer-phobic doctors in the future which may ultimately prove fatal to many in the LGBTQIA+ community. .The Court acknowledged the gravity of the situation and disposed of the case directing the board to take action on the representation forwarded by the petitioners immediately..Recently, the Madras High Court had also called for necessary changes to the medical curriculum after observing that medical courses in India reaffirm queerphobia and discrimination against LGBTQIA+ communities.