Goa minister does flip flop on LGBT cure centres

Two months after Goa Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar announced plans to establish centres to cure LGBT youth with medication, he has officially denied any such plans.

In a written reply tabled on Friday during the budget session of the Goa legislative assembly, Tawadkar said Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) youth were identified as a target group in the newly launched Goa State Youth Policy, but denied any plans to set up centres to 'cure' them.

"Under the target groups, there is a mention of Stigmatized Youth (LGBT). However, the Youth Policy does not state that focused attention will be required to be given to LGBT," Tawadkar said, while also formally denying any plans to set up centres for them.

In January this year, Tawadkar while launching the Policy, told reporters that his ministry had plans to set up centres on the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous to cure LGBT youth.

"We will make them normal. We will have a centre for them. Like Alcoholic Anonymous centres, we will have centres...We will train them and (give them) medicines too," Tawadkar had said.

The comment triggered national outrage forcing Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to intervene and publicly reprimand Tawadkar.

Tawadkar, in his reply, has also said that LGBT had been identified as a target group in the National Youth Policy itself.