Vietnam last week took a major step forward in the recognition of LGBTQ rights, with the country’s Ministry of Health stating that being gay, bisexual, or transgender is not a disease and urging medical practitioners to end discrimination in medical care. On August 3, the country’s Ministry of Health published a document stating that “homosexuality cannot be ‘cured’, does not need ‘to be cured’ and cannot be changed.” Citing the World Health Organization’s removal from its list of mental illnesses in 1990, the ministry urged medical professionals to be “respectful” of gender and sexual orientation. “Do not consider homosexuality, bisexuality or being transgender a disease,” it instructed.