CHENNAI: LGBTQIA+ rights activists have condemned VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan for describing same-sex relationship as “perversion” during a public event, and demanded an apology and clarity on the party’s stands on LGBTQIA+ rights.
A collective statement, issued by LGBTQIA+ Persons Who Stand For Social Justice called the comment “deeply disturbing” and “unscientific.”
The comment, made at the Let Us Learn Democracy and Student Parliament 2025 conference on April 12, came in response to a law student’s question about same-sex relationships in the context of Tamil society’s definition of love. Thirumavalavan replied that “in English, they call that perversion” and stated that love between two men goes against nature.
The Tamil Nadu Rainbow Coalition (TNRC), a collective of groups and individuals from the sexual and gender minority communities, in a separate open letter to Thirumalavan, expressing “deep anguish and disappointment”, stated that homosexuality is neither unnatural nor a disorder, citing the World Health Organization’s removal of homosexuality from its International Classification of Disorders in 1990. They also noted the Indian Psychiatric Society’s endorsement of homosexuality as a natural variation of human sexuality.
“Equating the love and relationships of these (lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual) and other sexual minority individuals to perversion reinforces stigma, fuels discrimination, and contributes to the violence and alienation queer people face in Tamil Nadu and across India,” the letter stated.
Activists stressed that Thirumalavalavan’s comments reinforce fear and exclusion, especially for the queer students in educational spaces. They argue that liberation movements cannot exclude people based on sexual orientation.
VCK chief’s view
At the Let Us Learn Democracy and Student Parliament conference on April 12, Thirumavalavan, in response to a law student’s question about same-sex relationships in the context of Tamil society’s definition of love, said “in English, they call that perversion”