Mixing gay rights with HIV rights in India

[Guest guest]

Dear Aditya,

I appreciate your concern towards HIV+ people.I look at it as much as any other

deciese which can be prevented with proper care and one can live with

reasonable comfort levels with medication. Any interaction or intervention

whether it is medical or sexual or accidental can lead to serious decieses

including AIDS.The issue has become a human rights issue as there is a social

stigma that has followed with the AIDS. I agree that we have to work for the

social acceptence,respect,care and love for the people who has contacted HIV+ .

The problem I have with you is that you always link this issue with MSM. AS if

AIDS and MSM are two synonimous issues.

As civil rights activist if you want to fight for rights of both HIV+ people and

MSM people nobody should have any objection. But you should not try to bring in

organisations like NACO into the gayrights struggle.

With all my respects towards you and the also with the faith I have towards your

commitment I request you to not to put the two issues together. It is not proper

for intellectuals like you to look them as synonimous.

Thank you

Naveen Babu

E-mail: Naveenb64@...

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[Guest guest]

This has been an issue in the US, also. MSM get HIV. So do men who have sex with

women, women who have sex with men, and people who have sex with no one. This is

a very important point to keep in mind when working for the human and civil

rights of PLWHAs, when treating someone in a clinical setting, and when

launching prevention campaigns. Viruses have no sexual preferences.

Janice Price, M.Ed., RN

HIV Research Coordinator

Swedish Medical Center

747 Broadway, Rm. 833

Seattle, WA 98122

Phone: 206.386.2523

Fax: 206.386.6121

Beeper: 206.405.6634

Email: janice.price@...

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[Guest guest]

Naveen Babu wrote: " With all my respects towards you and the also with the

faith I have towards your commitment I request you to not to put the two issues

together. It is not proper for intellectuals like you to look them as

synonimous. "

On one level, you are correct, Naveen. Gay rights are distinct. Not all MSM or

lesbians have HIV disease. Heterosexuals are probably at greater risk of

contracting HIV through sexual activities than MSM or lesbians.

However, what AIDS has done in the U.S. and around the world is to shine a

bright spotlight on the horrendous human rights problems. One is the miserable

way the LGBT community (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered) is treated by

society.

And given the hard hit that the LGBT community took in the west, it is not

surprising that many of us AIDS activists are gay. I'm gay. By some remarkable

stroke of fortune, and despite years as an IVDU, I don't have HIV (just a

little case of hep C).

But to fail to recognize the huge risk the MSM community faces, ESPECIALLY

because of the stigmatization and prejudice that assaults us to one degree

or another nearly everywhere on the planet (with the possible exception of

Thailand), it is crucial that prevention efforts include tearing down the

walls of that prejudice.

So I hope you will come to see why it is so important for prevention

efforts that we support people like Aditya, groups like the NAZ Foundation,

and so forth. We are all in this struggle together.

And we must together tear down the walls of discrimination, stigmatization

and hate that divide us and cause so much despair and suffering in the world.

M.

E-mail: <gmc0@...>

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[Guest guest]

Dear Naveen,

I agree with most of what you have raised. But there are a few things that I

would wnat to re-assert, which I feel are not really in disconcert to your

letter.

1. It is true that HIV affects everyone and thet when we speak of the pandemic

we have to take into account the concerns for the rights of all. In fact it is

totally accepted today that any discourse on rights cannot be for only specific

segments. It has to be guaranteed to all. And the best way to control the

pandemic is to ensure the rights of all those who are most vulnerable, protect

and promote those rights, so that they are empowered to take the necessary

precautions.

2. But when we act as individual advocates, we cannot do that for all as we are

logistically limited and limited by time. Therefore many advocates make a

conscious choice of what is closest to his/her heart and work for the rights of

those vulnerable populations. I feel it is also a good strategy as that ensures

that you do not spread yourself too thin and develope core competence in one

area.

3. As an individual advocate I have chosen to work for MSM [not gay mind you,

there is a big difference]. It was a conscious decision, because the I belong

there and I do not think that the state, the aids control organisations, or

anyone else for that matter has any business to decide for me what I do in the

privicy of my bedroom, to decide whom I can or cannot love, or decide how I can

or cannot love. That is a territory barred, yet Me and the likes of me are

criminals in the Union of India for choosing to live the way we want. It also

affects OUR vulnerability to HIV. And I have every right to raise the issue of

the rights of MSM because it affects me directly. That is why I do raise it in

any and every opportunity I am accorded. I raise it even more in forums like

this because here we are confronted directly with the sweet talking apparently

rights giving state organs that say " Oh we include you " . Yet when the penny

drops they do darned little. That is why I urge officials like the director of

NACO to respond to mails like the one on the New Policy and the inconsistencies

they raise.

4. I feel that from the above you can gather that I do raise the issue of MSM

because it is what I am primarily an advocate for. BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN that I

am against the rights of any other margnalised groups. God knows if you read the

archives of this list you shall find me coming out in support of any and every

groups rights that have been taken away or abridged. Plus I would ideally like

advocates for the concerns of other marginalised persons to also start being

active on the list. THat way maybe you shall not have the kind of feeling you

have that MSM is all that is being raised. Others should raise their concerns

for bringing it out in the open, so that the authorities can be forced to

respond to them.

I hope that answers your concerns. Every one should speak to break the silence

effectively. But if one group does, it does not mean that they are conflating

HIV with just their group.

Regards

Aditya Bondyopadhyay

E-mail: <adit_bond_2@...>

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