Manvendra Singh Gohil is India’s first openly gay prince. As per a report, when Prince Gohil came out to his parents for the first time, he was asked to undergo a ‘brain conversion surgery’ in an effort to alter his sexuality
During an interview with Sky News, Prince Gohil said that his parents visited doctors in the US asking for surgeries or even electroshock therapies to alter his brain. Though, the US-based medical practitioners refused to do anything stating that homosexuality is not a mental disorder
"It was an absolute case of discrimination and violation of human rights. Whether I'm a prince or not a prince, parents have no right to put their children through [this] kind of torture," Prince Gohil told SkyNews
Prince Gohil further said that “It is a lack of education, lack of awareness which causes people to be homophobic and bigoted... It's our duty to educate them and to make them aware of the facts.”
Manvendra Singh is the only son of Maharana Shri Raghubir Singhji Rajendrasinghji Sahib and Maharani Rukmini Devi of Rajpipla. He received formal education and was later married to Chandrika Kumari, princess of Jhabua state in Madhya Pradesh in a much-talked-about wedding
The marriage did not last long as Manvendra soon realized that he was homosexual. He later appeared on Oprah Winfrey Show where he said, “I was struggling and striving to be 'normal'. I never knew and nobody told me that I was gay and [that] this itself is normal and it will not change. That this is what is called homosexuality and it is not a disease. I tremendously regret ruining (Chandrika's) life. I feel guilty, but I simply did not know better.”
Manvendra opened up in front of his family but did not get any support. As per reports, he suffered a nervous breakdown. He later got in touch with gay activist Ashok Row Kavi, which led him to the social network supporting the LGBTQ community in Gujarat
In 2006, a regional Gujarati language daily newspaper published India’s first openly gay prince – Manvendra’s story. It soon went viral and people in Rajpipla strongly opposed him
Manvendra now strongly supports LGBT groups around the world. He inaugurated the Euro Pride gay festival in Stockholm in 2008 and was featured in several documentaries. He expanded his area of social work to those suffering from HIV AIDS
While travelling across the world in a bid to raise awareness about the gay community and normalise being a part of the LGBTQ community, Manvendra found the love of his life, an American man named Cecil "DeAndre" Richardson. They got married in the US and live together