Vignesh Dhananjayan on ‘Experiences as a student’ (edited, in the speakers words):

I started using Clubhouse where people were very open about conversations and there were queer conversations, and I used to be on the panels for Pride month.

In the Tamil diaspora, there were spaces created in ClubHouse for queer people to come and tell the stories.

One person, a minor from school, came up to the panel and we were having casual conversations. We told them to feel free to say anything they wanted, and that we wouldn’t judge them. We would not be divulging their information, we’ll keep it anonymous.

The minor says, ‘I had a queer friend in my school who was outed, bullied inside the hostile campus, and his parents took him to conversion therapy and after six months, I get to know that he died by suicide.’

That was a shaky moment for me. How can we possibly do this to your own child? How can you let this happen?

If I was a 16-17 year old, what could I have done? I would have done nothing.

There was nobody to save that person, even for me. I didn't have anybody to save me when I was assaulted. Nobody was there to save me.

I searched for any kind of loopholes that could exist legally before — Madras and Kerala High Courts, of course, banned conversion therapy but there were certain loopholes existing within the in the medical textbooks.

Continued..