Indian Royals Lead Fight to Ban Conversion Therapy

February 17, 2023

When Prince Manvendra came out publicly as gay in 2006, at the age of 41, reactions were polarising. Many praised him for having the courage to live his life openly. Others targeted him with death threats, locals in his home town burnt his effigy and there were protests.

His parents, the Maharaja and Maharani of Rajpipla, in Gujarat, responded with similar hostility. They publicly disowned him and took out advertisements in newspapers, announcing that he had been cut off as their heir due to his involvement in activities “unsuitable to society”.

Four years earlier, when he revealed his sexuality to his parents privately, they had subjected him to conversion therapy.

Prince Manvendra endured electroshock treatments and his mother and father even considered brain surgery in an attempt to make him straight.