chennai in a leg up to the lgbtqa movement in india the madras high court has suggested a ban on health professionals from attempting to medically cure or change the sexual orientation of lgbtqa individuals to heterosexual or the gender identity of transgender people to cisgenderthe court also directed national medical commission indian psychiatric society and rehabilitation council of india to take action including withdrawal of licence to practice against professionals involved in any form or method of conversion therapy to lgbtqa community memberstimesviewthose in same sex or lgbtq relationships often are socially discriminated againstsensitising the judiciary goes a long way in more empathetic and understanding treatment of them in courts the initiative taken by the judge must be laudedjustice n anand venkatesh laid down a slew of guidelines covering issues ranging from genderneutral restrooms for gendernonconforming students and help to change namegender on academic records for transgender people besides suggesting separate jails for transsexualsjustice anand venkatesh had chosen to undergo psychoeducation under qualified counsellors to understand samesex relationship issues before writing the 125page verdictthe case relates to a maduraibased lesbian couple aged 23 and 20 who chose to live as married couple facing resistance from their families they fled to chennai and took refuge under an ngo as police continued to visit them following complaints lodged by their parents the two had moved the high court to restrain police from harassing themtracing the constitutional rights and guarantees available to all those belonging to the lgbtqa community justice anand venkatesh said the voice of this community is now getting louder and stronger and society can no more turn a deaf ear and time has come to make that changehe said police probing mangirl missing complaints should close them without harassing the members if they find that the person concerned is a consenting individual in the company of lgbtqa he also suggested that the union and the state governments effect changes in curricula of schools and universities to educate students on understanding the lgbtqa communitythe court has also directed the union government to devise policies to eliminate prejudices against lgbtqa people and organize sensitization programmes for the judiciary police public servants health professionals and parents of lgbtqa people justice anand venkatesh said the union government to enlist nongovernmental organizations ngos including communitybased groups which have sufficient expertise in handling the issues faced by the lgbtqia community any person who faces an issue for the reason of their belongingness to the lgbtqia community may approach any of the enlisted ngos for safeguarding and protecting their rights the judge saidhighlighting the need to create awareness in the judiciary as well the court has suggested the legal services authority concerned and the law ministry to conduct awareness programmes for judicial officers at all levels in coordination with the enlisted ngos and community support and to provide suggestions recommendations to ensure nondiscrimination of persons belonging to the lgbtqia communitynoting that he himself was pulled out of darkness ignorance by two counsellors he had interacted with