- Title: INDIA: Gay stigma hampers India's fight against HIV/AIDS
- Date: 29th November 2011
- Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (REUTERS) (NOV 27, 2011) CROSS DRESSERS ARRIVING TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ANNUAL GAY PRIDE PARADE IN DOWNTOWN NEW DELHI A LARGE CROWD OF MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS OF THE GAY COMMUNITY MEMBERS GREETING EACH OTHER WITH HUGS A POSTER READING: "I HAVE CRIED, I HAVE DIED - NOT ANY MORE" NEW DELHI, INDIA (REUTERS) (NOVEMBER 25, 2011) CHARLES GILKS, COUNTRY DIREC
- Embargoed: 14th December 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: India, India
- Country: India
- Topics: Health,Politics,People,Population
- Reuters ID: LVA78CGSZUNB4CVOLYMXXHK5C69P
- Story Text: Under a huge rainbow flag, to the sound of drums, whistles and horns, nearly 2,000 gay activists and supporters clad in feather face masks danced, sang and cheered in a vibrant celebration for the annual gay pride parade on Sunday (November 27).
The parade, through the streets of New Delhi, brought traffic to a halt in the commercial heart of the city, leaving bemused drivers watching in astonishment as kissing male couples, dancing transsexuals in bright pink skirts and thousands of rainbow flags went past.
While the first two annual marches were billed as protests against legislation that criminalized homosexual sex in the world's largest democracy, last year was a celebration of a landmark case in the Delhi High Court that finally overturned the colonial-era Section 377 of India's penal code after nine years of legal action.
And this year the community was celebrating its small and big collective victories and demanding the rights of sexually marginalised people all across and India and the world.
Thirty years ago, when AIDS was first discovered, it was described as the gay men's disease but although that is no longer seen as the case it still serves to stigmatise the disease in traditional cultures like India.
HIV/AIDS workers and community members say that a powerful stigma against homosexuality and uneven quality of healthcare are hampering efforts to fight the spread of HIV in India.
Charles Gilks, country co-ordinator of UNAIDS for India, said that even though India was at the forefront of global fight against HIV/AIDS and the country had shown significant improvement in reducing fresh infections by nearly 50 percent in the past decade, success was relatively limited among the gay population, for which he's blaming social stigma.
"There are lots of challenges with outreach. One of them relates to this issue of stigma and discrimination because it is very difficult to access regularly and effectively people who are irregular. People who have sex with the same sex, sex between men. It is often under ground, it is certainly regarded as something that is shameful. That makes it a very difficult intervention to put in place," Gilks told Reuters Television.
Hugging and kissing in public even among heterosexual couples is strongly frowned upon. Strong religious and family values mean many homosexuals choose to hide their sexuality for fear of discrimination, while attacks by police, especially in rural areas, are common.
Devika Singh, a gay rights activist, said often families failed to understand the psychology of gay members and resorted to psychiatric help to heal their "illness".
The stigma associated with being a gay made it difficult for people to openly come out and seek help.
"I think it is, I know a lot of friends who have had a lot of problem coming out of the closet because of the conventional dogmatic ideas that we have about sexuality in India. So, it is difficult (being a gay) in India," Singh said.
In India, which has at least 2.5 million people with HIV among its 1.1 billion-plus population, prejudice against homosexuals as well as those living with HIV/AIDS still deters many from seeking help.
There is no cure for HIV but the progress of the infection can be controlled for years by a cocktail of drugs.
Gay rights supporter and film maker Ranjit Moga said discrimination against homosexuality was rampant, from immediate family and friends, to the work place and society at large which made it very difficult for them to seek medical help.
"It is traumatising when you are growing up because the society is so heterosexual in that way. There are no opportunities for gay people to live their own lives. Whether it is working place or whether it is growing up, so it is very traumatising," said Moga, while admitting that it took him nearly 10 years to come into the open with his own sexuality.
In 2010 the United Nations AIDS programme (UNAIDS) estimated 34 million people globally were infected with the HIV virus, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
India's fight against HIV/AIDS over the past decade has been a great success surpassing by far other countries' efforts.
A UNAIDS report marking 30 years of the discovery of the disease "AIDS at 30: Nations at the crossroads" said India's rate of new HIV infections fell by more than 50 percent between 2001-2009.
UNAIDS data published in November showed 2.7 million new infections worldwide during 2010, up from 33.4 million in 2009, but a reduction of 21 per cent below the peak of the global epidemic in 1997. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None