Vietnam Declares Being LGBTQ “Entirely Not An Illness”

Human Rights Watch reports:

Vietnam’s Health Ministry officially confirmed that same-sex attraction and being transgender are not mental health conditions, Human Rights Watch said today. The decision brings Vietnam’s health policy in line with global health and human rights standards.

Vietnam’s new directive states that “the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (WHO) have confirmed that homosexuality is entirely not an illness, therefore homosexuality cannot be ‘cured’ nor need[s] to be ‘cured’ and cannot be converted in any way.”

The directive follows a civil society-run petition that garnered more than 76,000 signatures and a letter from the WHO’s Vietnam office confirming that the “WHO firmly holds the view that any effort to convert the sexual orientation of a non-heterosexual person lacks medical justification and is morally unacceptable.”

Read the full article.

Vietnam says homosexuality ‘not a disease’ in win for gay rights https://t.co/Z2qommkFHJ

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 22, 2022