Many of them were subjected to intense pressure from their families to visit doctors or so-called reparative therapists for therapy or spiritual counseling, believing these 'treatments' could convert their children's sexual orientation back to being straight. More than 60 percent of them said they were scolded or verbally abused by their families, according to a 2015 study by the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE), an NGO group that works for the rights of minority groups. Though WHO stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness and took it off the International Statistical Classification of Diseases in 1990, many LGBTQ people in Vietnam are still being rejected, stigmatized and discriminated against even by their own families. He moved out and decided to stay out of touch with his family, which has kept rejecting him. They even prevented him from talking to his younger brother, worrying he would 'transmit the gay disease to him.'
They believed I had mental health issues.' 'My father got angry, and my mother burst into tears. The resident of HCMC's District 5 says he will never forget the day when he came out to them three years ago.