Indian Health Minister risks receding gains made in realizing rights of same sex individuals

Sadly when the landmark Delhi High Court judgement on same sex behaviour has just completed 2 years day before yesterday, Indian Health Minister's statement (as per the news of Press Trust of India (PTI) published in The Times of India, 4 July 2011), risks RECEDING the gains we have made in terms of human rights, tolerance and right to dignity of life in the past years for people with varied sexual orientations. As per the news, "Indian Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad described homosexuality as a "disease" and regretted that despite being "unnatural", it now afflicts a substantial number of people in India." As per this news,he added: "The disease of 'Men having Sex with Men' (MSM), which was found more in the developed world, has now unfortunately come to our country and there is a substantial number of such people in India."


According to the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), which functions under the leadership of Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, working with MSM is one of the high priority area for NACO. The NACO priority and thrust areas states that: "Sub-populations that have the highest risk of exposure to HIV will receive the highest priority in the intervention programmes. These would include sex workers, men-who-have-sex-with-men and injecting drug users."

Readers are welcome to post their opinions. What should we tell our Health Minister to ensure right to dignity, right to equality and right to health for all our citizens? What should citizens do to not let Mr Azad derail commendable gains India has made over the past years to ensure tolerance and dignity for people of varied sexual orientations?

CNS