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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Human Injustice Virus

Human Injustice Virus

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published Published on Mar 5, 2012   modified Modified on Mar 5, 2012
-The Indian Express

Section 377 violates the right to equality, whatever be the gay or HIV numbers

Examining the appeal on Section 377 (which had been struck down by the Delhi high court, effectively decriminalising homosexuality), the Supreme Court had been careful to unpack many of the terms that obscure the issue, like “unnatural” and “abnormal”. The government, after confusedly spinning around on its stand, finally went with the health ministry’s earlier position, that gay sex should be decriminalised because of the enormous public health damage in keeping it secret, blocking medical access to men who have sex with men.

Now, the Supreme Court has asked the government to submit clear data on the number of the HIV-affected in India, including the proportion that are gay, instead of the clashing, unreliable estimates of various agencies. It also demanded to know why certain groups were profiled, for instance, why truckers and migrants were considered high-risk. While it makes sense to seek the accurate dimensions of the threat posed by HIV, the court must remember that this case is not primarily about public health, but civil rights. When HIV was first identified, it was ignored and diminished by politicians and the medical community, largely because it was considered a disease that affected “them”, that is, promiscuous gay men. Then, the focus shifted to surveillance and research of gay men, encouraging political efforts to repress their sexuality in the name of public health. In the early ’80s, there was a tendency to inflate the number of AIDS cases related to homosexuality, and under-represent those that arose from intravenous needles or transfusions. In those years, LGBT groups raised money and awareness, forcing governments to confront the problem. Now, with several decades of HIV awareness-building, it is seen as a more variegated issue, one that affects diverse populations. The AIDS spectre is one thing, decriminalising homosexuality is another.

Reading down Section 377 is about ending a century-and-a-half of official discrimination and moving towards legal equality. As justices A.P. Shah and S. Muralidhar of the Delhi high court said in their judgment, inclusiveness is our underlying constitutional value, and it does not allow for one set of citizens to have their most important, intimate freedoms constricted by the moral anxieties of others. The court should look beyond the charts and figures on HIV and recognise this ethical imperative.

The Indian Express, 5 March, 2012, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/human-injustice-virus/920071/


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