Curtain Divides Male and Female Medical students during session on LGBTQIA, college faces flak

Thrissur: Controversy erupted as the male and female medical students of Thrissur Medical College Hospital were separated by a curtain in the classroom during a lecture. A photograph featuring the medicos separated by a curtain in between during a class of 'Gender Politics', has been doing the rounds on social media, inviting widespread criticism with many immediately pointing out that such a setup was especially regressive coming from future doctors.

Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad, Student Federation of India (SFI), the students wing of the ruling CPI(M), and others have strongly criticised the classes.

According to the PTI report, the classes were held by the Mujahid Wisdom Islamic Organisation – on the topic LGBTQIA+: Behind the rainbow flags: Understanding LGBTQIA+ from an Islamic perspective".

This matter reportedly came to light after an office-bearer of the group which conducted the class posted a photograph of the same on social media. The office-bearer said the expenses of the classes were borne by the group which was of the view that they can put up a screen or curtain as they wished to segregate the two sexes.

"Just show your frustration and go babies," the office-bearer's post said in reaction to the criticism of the classes. Justifying the classes, he said they were held in a private space.

SFI State president Anusree told PTI that it was a matter of concern that highly educated students are taking part in the classes.

"Students with high educational qualifications becoming part of such campaigns are a matter of concern. SFI views this as a major challenge," Anusree said.

The Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad, a progressive people science movement in the State, condemned the classes and wondered why no one questioned as to why there was the curtain.

"Those who took the class did not explain why there was a curtain and those who attended the class did not question the need of a curtain," office-bearers of the Parishad told the media.

As the incident was condemned on social media, the group defended its action saying there was nothing wrong.

The students' union of the Government Medical College clarified that the class was not held on its campus.

In a statement through its official page on the social media, the union condemned the social media post that said the class was held at the medical college.

"Religion is a personal matter. The college is in no way connected to those classes organised by a section of people who follow religion. It's condemnable that the news about the classes being held in a religious place was falsely being circulated, they were conducted on the campus. Neither the college administration nor the college union has any role in the conduct of such classes. The college does not encourage such acts. We always stand by progressive thinking," the statement read.

Since the Mujahid Students Movement (MSM) leader who posted the picture captioning it as a programme conducted in Government Medical College Thrissur, criticism also came against the institution on social media.

However, the college union officials clarified that the particular programme by MSM was not conducted by the college administration or the students' union. The students' union also condemned the intentional mention in the post that the programme was conducted in the college as it was not true.

The college union in its statement said that the programme was conducted near a place of worship near the college by a religious-oriented organization and neither the college administration nor its students' union had any connection with it, reports The New Indian Express.

Dr Shimna Azeez, a medical practitioner and social critic based in Malappuram, pointed out to TNM that it was mainly junior students who attended such classes. "This happens in the evenings, after their regular classes. In the MBBS syllabus, there are not many readings on the subject of the LGBTQIA+ community. So when we don't study about it, those who blindly believe the wrong information they receive from outside come out as doctors with a misinformed understanding of these matters. This is a big issue," she said.

The Twitterati massively commented on the irony of the lecture topic and its influence on the budding doctors in our country. Some even pointed out the fact that Kerala has the highest total literacy rate among all states in India. The responses are as follows: