India’s first openly gay prince reveals how his parents sought conversion therapy to change his sexuality

‘It was an absolute case of discrimination and violation of human rights’

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An openly gay Indian prince has revealed the ordeal he’s had to face concerning his sexuality.

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, who is the 39th direct descendant of India’s Gohil Rajput dynasty, opened up about the extreme steps his parents took in order to “convert” him when he told them he was gay.

In an interview with Sky News, the 57-year-old prince revealed that his parents sought various methods with the hope of finding ways to “perform a surgery” on his brain and even subjected him to electroshock therapy.

“It was an absolute case of discrimination and violation of human rights. Whether I’m a prince or not a prince, parents have no right to put their children through [this] kind of torture,” Prince Manvendra said.

The prince claimed that his parents’ attempts were thwarted as doctors in the US, where they scheduled the “treatment”, refused to perform the procedures by stating that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.

“Fortunately for me and fortunately for them, the American Psychiatric Association had said that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, so they were not successful,” Prince Manvendra said.

Nevertheless, he said that he suffered severe “embarrassment” and “humiliation” while enduring the “pain and suffering” of his parents’ attempts to “change” his sexual orientation.

“It didn’t happen but imagine how much harassment one has to go through, how much humiliation one has to go through, just to endure this pain and suffering at the hands of parents – and this is happening to so many individuals in India,” he said.

“It is a lack of education, lack of awareness which causes people to be homophobic and bigoted... It’s our duty to educate them and to make them aware about the facts.”

Following his experience, Prince Manvendra initiated a legal battle in the Supreme Court to try to get conversion therapy banned outright by law.

The prince declared his homosexuality in 2006. He gained significant media attention after making the announcement. The revelation also sparked protests in his home state of Gujarat, with people burning his effigies on the street.

Before coming out at the age of 41, he was reportedly forced into a short-lived arranged marriage with a woman. He eventually married his husband Duke DeAndre Richardson in 2013.

In a 2022 interview with Insider magazine, Prince Manvendra revealed that his parents publicly disowned him as their son and took out advertisements in local newspapers announcing that he was cut off as heir due to his involvement in activities “unsuitable to society”.

“The day I came out, my effigies were burnt,” he said. “There were a lot of protests, people took to the streets and shouted slogans saying that I brought shame and humiliation to the royal family and to the culture of India. There were death threats and demands that I be stripped off of my title.”

Currently, the prince is the founder of Lakshya Trust, a charitable organisation with the aim to improve the rights of the LGBT+ community in Gujarat.

When the Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality in India in 2018, Prince Manvendra reportedly opened up his palace grounds to build a shelter for members of the LGBT+ community.

During his career, he has also appeared in Ted talks, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, and featured on Keeping Up With The Kardashians.