Kerala HC directs medical education board to remove queer-phobic content from MBBS books
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The Kerala High Court has directed the Undergraduate Medical Education Board to consider the representations of two non-governmental organisations (NGOs), working for the welfare of the LGBTQ community, against alleged queer-phobic contents in medical textbooks.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly orally remarked that this was a "serious issue" and directed the Undergraduate Medical Education Board to take immediate action on the petition.
The court, in its September 7 order, has asked the board to consider the representations of two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) named Queerythm and Disha, who work for the welfare of the LGBTQ community, to first obtain the remarks and views of the Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur before reaching conclusion, NDTV reported.
The court added that the decision has to be taken within eight weeks of receiving the order.
The Kerala University of Health Sciences was asked to provide its remarks and views to the Board on the allegations made in the NGOs' petition and their representations without waiting for a copy of the court order.
The petitioners claimed that because of the fear of being victimised due to the stigma attached to being queer, many people from the community are scared to reveal their identity, even in the medical fields, Hindustan Times reported.
The NGOs alleged the presence of discriminatory and inhuman content like "they consist of a group of people suffering from mental disorder, perversion and flaunting such identity is an offence".
The petitioners stated that such content was stereotypical when it comes to their gender or sexual identities and also amounted to an infringement of their fundamental and constitutional rights.