India's First Openly Gay Prince Is Working to Make Conversion Therapy Illegal
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
When Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil came out in 2006, he became the first openly gay royal in Indian history. He was 41 at the time, and was publicly disowned by his parents, the Maharaja and Maharani of Rajpipla.
When he told them he was gay in 2002, his parents soon subjected him to conversion therapy. "They thought it was impossible that I could be gay because my cultural upbringing had been so rich. They had no idea that there's no connection between someone's sexuality and their upbringing," Gohil told Insider. "They approached doctors to operate on my brain to make me straight and subjected me to electroshock treatments."
In the two decades since Gohil came out, conversion therapy is still widely in practice in India—with the exception of Tamil Nadu, where the practice is legally outlawed. Gohil, who runs Lakshya Trust, is fighting to make the practice illegal in all of India.
In 2018, Gohil opened his palace, Hanumanteshwar, as the first-of-its-kind LGBTQA Community Center. The palace was built by his great-grandfather in the style of Windsor Castle, and gifted to him by his parents after they reached a "compromise" on the matter of his inheritance and sexuality.
"My relationship hasn’t changed much with her since [I came out]. She’s just realized she cannot make me straight and that she tried her best," Gohil said of his mother.
"I’m in the process of restoring some portions of the palace; I’m also adding new structures to the old building," Gohil wrote in 2018 of Hanumanteshwar. "This property was gifted by my father after I came out openly as a gay person. He even laid the foundation stone by performing a ritual for the LGBTQA Community Centre renovation and extension. The priest of the centuries-old Hanuman temple in the neighbourhood was also present for the ceremony."
"I wish to construct a new building to make a shelter home for all those who are thrown out by their families and rendered homeless. This will have eight rooms to accommodate 20 to 25 persons. People can stay here till the time they feel comfortable to live on their own," he added.
Gohil's royal lineage traces back to the sixth century, and his heritage has helped make him a prominent activist for LGBTQ issues. "It's important for people like me who have a certain reputation in society to continue the advocacy. We can't just stop because the country repealed Section 377," Gohil said, referring to the 2018 repeal of a law that criminalized homosexuality.
"Now we have to fight for issues like same-sex marriage, right to inheritance, right to adoption. It's a never-ending cycle," Gohil said this week. "I have to keep fighting."
You Might Also Like
