'My Upbringing Treated "Homosexual", "Gay", "Lesbian" As Anathema' : Madras HC Judge Explains How He Overcame Prejudice Against LGBTQIA+ Community

"Ignorance is no justification for normalizing any form of discrimination", said Justice Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court in a judgment which issued a slew of guidelines to ensure the protection of LGBTQIA+ persons in consensual relationships from police harassment.To deal with a writ petition filed by two lesbian women seeking protection from police harassment at the instance of their parents, Justice Anand Venkatesh voluntarily underwent psycho-educational sessions and interactions with LGBTQI+ people to have a better understanding of their emotions and problems.Justice Anand Venkatesh exhibited remarkable humility in the judgment to admit his "pre-conceived notions" about same-sex relationships and to explain the educative processes undertaken by him to overcome inherent prejudices and biases against them."I have no hesitation in accepting that I too belong to the majority of commoners who are yet to comprehend homosexuality completely.....The society and my upbringing have always treated the terms"homosexual", "gay", "lesbian" as anathema. A majority of the society would stand in the same position of ignorance and preconceived notions",he said in the judgment.The judge also said in his judgment that he has never personally encountered a person of LBTQIA+ community and never had the opportunity to understand and appreciate their emotions and feelings."I realized, after a one-on-one interaction with the Petitioners, that it was I (us), who has to set off on a journey of understanding them and accepting them and shed our notions,and not they who have to turn themselves inside out to suit our notions of social morality and tradition", he said.Judge undergoes psycho-educative sessions to break "pre-conceived notions".To break his "pre-conceived notions", the judge decided to undergo psycho-educative sessions with professionals specialized in LGBTQIA+ issues. The Court also directed the parents of the petitioners to undergo psychological counselling with a professional counsellor.Justice Anand Venkatesh attended a session with clinical psychologist Dr Vidya Dinkaran. The report of the psychologist regarding the interaction with the judge is completely extracted in the judgment(in paragraph 7).The report says that the judge became aware of his own "flawed notions" only after interacting with the petitioners :"A misconception that came to the forefront was how homosexuality is very often viewed only with a sexual connotation (i.e.), a relationship confined only to sex. The client(Justice Venkatesh) expressed how listening to the petitioners was when he realised the flawed notion he had and how two women came to be seen as a couple by the end of that discussion for him.He came in with the awareness of the prejudice he holds. This was deepened by understanding how no two heterosexuals in a relationship will be judged immediately as being together only to engage in sex and it shouldn'tbe different for any two people with any other orientation", the report of the psychologist said.After gaining a great amount of insight and understanding from Dr Vidya Dinakaran, Justice Venkatesh felt that a further interaction with person(s) who belong to the LGBTQIA+community would be greatly instrumental to help myself understand the ground realities, the emotions,social discrimination and exclusion, and several other difficulties faced by the community. Therefore, an interaction was scheduled with Dr. L.Ramakrishnan, Vice President, SAATHII, Ms. Shanmathi, PCVC,Dr. Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju, Digital-Content Creator, Actor, MBBS Intern – Kasturba Medical College and her mother Ms. Haima Haldar .Dr. Trinetra, a transwoman herself shared her journey and lived experiences with the judge."This session ultimately convinced me that I must change all my preconceived notions and start looking at persons belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community as they are. I must frankly confess that the Petitioners, Ms. Vidya Dinakaran and Dr. Trinetra became my gurus who helped me in this process of evolution and pulled me out of darkness(ignorance)", the judge noted in his judgment. The judge clarified that the psycho-educative sessions were organized not because it was felt that the petitioners had psychological anomalies but to help himself understand their relationship in a better manner.The judge added in the judgment :"Unlike regular litigations, the present case has given this Court, not only an opportunity but also a vested responsibility to weigh the cause for inclusivity and justice against discrimination by heretofore social understanding of morality and notions of tradition. That being said, I also felt that I remove the "Lordship's" ...

'My Upbringing Treated "Homosexual", "Gay", "Lesbian" As Anathema' : Madras HC Judge Explains How He Overcame Prejudice Against LGBTQIA+ Community

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