‘Huge paradigm shift’ in LGBTQ+ rights: This is how the Vietnamese government defined the latest decision made by the Ministry of Health. Homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people will no longer be considered “sick” in the country with important implications in terms of discrimination, especially in the health sector.

In an announcement sent to provincial and municipal health departments earlier this month and posted on the government’s website, Vietnam’s Ministry of Health has stated that being LGBTQ+ is “not a disease”.therefore, a person’s sexual identity “cannot be ‘cured’ and does not need to be ‘cured’ and cannot be transformed in any way”. According to GuardianThe ministry also added that healthcare professionals should treat LGBT+ people with respect and ensure that they are not discriminated against. He said doctors should not “interfere with or coerce treatment” of LGBTQ+ patients. If support is needed, “it should be in the form of psychological help and be provided only by those who know about sexual identity,” the ministry said in a statement. In fact, this is a huge step forward for the Southeast Asian country, where the LGBT+ community is still subject to severe discrimination. “The myth that homosexuality can be diagnosed has been allowed to infiltrate Vietnamese society and filter it out,” he told reporters. Guardian Kyle Knight, LGBTQ+ Health and Rights Senior Fellow at Human Rights Watch: “It’s a medical malpractice factor for LGBTQ+ youth.”

In recent years, activists have launched an intense campaign calling on the government to grant more rights. For example, in November, as part of the Institute for the Study of Society, Economics and the Environment (iSEE), the World Health Organization in Vietnam demanded that homosexuality no longer be considered a disease as part of the Institute for the Study of Society, Economics and the Environment (iSEE) campaign. In one of the videos, activists asked the question: if queerness is a disease, then shouldn’t LGBT + Vietnamese people get time off from work? In April, the WHO Representative in Vietnam, Kidong Pak, released a statement confirming that any attempt to change the sexual orientation of LGBTQ+ people “has no medical basis and is unacceptable.” Now, however, government recognition has come, and according to Knight, this will be a turning point.. “Although attitudes won’t change overnight,” he said, “this marks a huge paradigm shift. As the most trusted source of medical authority in Vietnam, the impact on public perception of queerness will be enormous.”