Webinar: Panel Discussion on Conversion Therapy

Date : June 27th

Day: Saturday

Time: 4 to 5:30 pm, Over Zoom

Safe Access and Law Schools’ Queer Alliance (LSQA) jointly organized a panel discussion on conversion therapy, that people of LGBTQIA+ are continue to be subjected to in India.

We put together a holistic panel that includes voices of the LGBTQIA+ civil society, mental health community and legal community to debate and discuss the following:

(1) The what and why of the so-called conversion therapy and how it harms those subjected to it

(2) Why is it still being practiced if it violates the rights of those subjected to it, from a legal standpoint

(3) What should be the response/next steps of the mental health community, legal community and LGBQIA+ civil society to move towards a future where we can put a stop to conversion therapy

The recording of the entire panel discussion is available below

The Panelists:

Dr. L Ramakrishnan

Dr L Ramakrishnan is a public health professional, and vice president at SAATHII, an NGO working on inclusive health care, justice and social protection for communities marginalized on account of gender, sexuality and/or HIV status.

Pooja Nair

Pooja Nair has been part of the non-profit sector for over a decade. She has worked variously as a researcher, documentation consultant, trainer and now as an independent therapist. She is faculty at Mariwala Health Initiative’s Queer Affirmative Counselling Practice certificate course. She has an MPhil in social work and has worked in the areas of life skills, gender, sexuality, violence and child sexual abuse. She has also worked with adolescents on life skills development. She’s currently working on her PhD in addition to being a mental health practitioner and trainer. Pooja is a member of LABIA- a queer feminist LBT collective.

Arjun Kapoor

Arjun is a lawyer and psychologist with the Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy, Indian Law Society, Pune. After completing his B.A. LL.B. from NALSAR, Hyderabad, he worked as research assistant to the Supreme Court of India, and subsequently with the Centre for Social Justice, Ahmedabad for developing socio-legal interventions on access to justice. Currently, he works with a range of stakeholders for law & policy reform at the intersection of human rights, mental health, and suicide prevention in India. He is also a peer-counsellor for the LGBTQIA+ community.