(Edited with Response & Action)How Easy Is it to Find Conversion Therapy / Sexual Orientation Counselling in India?

So we recorded a podcast on “Conversion Therapy” and the guests mentioned how easy it was to find doctors and counselors who offered the same in India. We decide to give it a try.

It took us all but 30 seconds to find this page.

A full roster of self-proclaimed Doctors specializing in Sexual Orientation Counseling which as be sorted as per your location.

The website Lybrate.com is an online platform that purportedly connects doctors and patients. Founded by former SnapDeal professionals Saurabh Arora & Rahul Narang, it counts Ratan Tata, Tiger Fund & Nexus Venture Partners among its funders.

Searches on Lybrate for Sexual Orientation Counseling & related terms also throw up dubious advertisements for ‘enchancing sex drives’ (via ayurveda, no less)

And even more worrying is that it almost recommends anti-depressants in a section called ‘related medicines’ that appears alongside.

and there is also a box that claims to let you book an appointment with top doctors for Sexual Orientation Counseling treatment.

Whether algorithm or human error, this is still highly irresponsible of Lybrate which seems to be extending its platform to some truly noxious, dangerous and illegal elements.

In early 2019, medical services aggregation platform practo got called out for featuring doctors who offered ‘cures’ for homosexuality. So they cleaned up main street, but suspicious activities are still present in the seediest gully of every website – the comments section. While most of the section is routine, the one’s below posts on homosexuality particularly show worrying activity. A few practitioners, sometimes the same ones over-and-over again can be seen giving vague advice and trying to very subtly shift the conversation to more private channels.

So, we further searched one of these hustler seeming practitioners and found some advice that they had left on a message board on Lybrate for someone who confessed to struggling with their sexuality.(or ‘gay thoughts’ as they put it)

The psychologist subtly puts it out there that ‘gay thoughts’ can be controlled. They never give any affirmative advice but hint that they can change and be in control. And finally, they ask the person to “get back” for “proper therapy.”

and of course the page in its entirety looks like this:

This is a serious matter that puts already vulnerable children, adolescents & young people- the ones who are questioning their sexuality, who are exploring their identities, who are still trying to find themselves and their place…. in the line of grievous risk, misinformation and extortion.

Practo urgently needs to take accountability and clean up some more and Lybrate needs to wash its dirty socks even before it considers pulling it up.

And Click here for a link of Queer Friendly Resources instead.

The Websites Response & Actions: (added on 09/06/2020):

Click here for the full story on how the website’s responded when the issue was brought to their attention.

TL/DR: After initial denials, there was a twitter storm around the issue post which the websites apologised and took action.One website took down all related pages. The second has taken down a few pages & promised a thorough clean up.