Scrubbed Out

The invisibilisation of LGBT communities in India's medical colleges

- KINSHUK GUPTA

When I was in my second year at Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, a lanky boy in a red shirt and fraying jeans came to the dermatology OPD for a consultation. He spoke openly about the globular swellings on his penis that had ruptured, leaving shallow craters. A busy resident asked him to strip and lie down on the examination table. She enquired about his history of contact: “Have you had sexual relations with a girl?” “Are you married?” “Have you visited any sex workers?” “No,” he responded to each question, quickly and confidently. Running out of time and patience, the resident referred him to me. It was only when I changed “girl” to “partner” that I understood the reason for his denial. He was in a sexual relationship with a male partner. With a medical curriculum that turns a blind eye to questions of gender, such incidents remain a common occurrence even in the country’s most reputed hospitals—leaving both doctors and patients struggling with their identities.

A doctor friend told me, on condition of anonymity, that their sexual awakening, during their second year at a women’s college in Sonipat, came at a hefty price. They identify as a trans man, but transitioning would have put their college seat in jeopardy. They decided to wait until graduation, but another exam and another degree awaited. Their doctor parents wanted them to choose gynaecology, which proved to be the final nail in the coffin. A male gynaecologist in Haryana was still a concept hard to digest.