First openly gay prince in the world speaks out against conversion therapy

People Magazine reports Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of India recently began speaking out against what’s known as conversion therapy, a practice of trying to change someone’s sexual preference. When the 56-year-old prince came out to his parents in 2002, his parents thought it was impossible for him to be gay because of his upbringing – so they took him to medical and spiritual practitioners where the younger royal was subjected to electroshock treatment. His parents had no idea sexual preference is not determined by upbringing. Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil is the world’s first openly gay prince. The prince told People Magazine, “Now we have to fight for issues like same-sex marriage, right to inheritance, and right to adoption. It’s a never-ending cycle. I have to keep fighting.” The prince married his husband in 2013 after a failed arranged marriage to a female – with his parents disowning him. The prince told People, "My decision to convert my royal establishment into an LGBTQA community center came up from my own life's experience when I was disowned by family," he said, according to the BBC. "This is precisely what happens to any other LGBT person in India. People still face a lot of pressure from their families when they come out, being forced to marry, or thrown out of their homes. They often have nowhere to go, no means to support themselves."