Shame on you, Health Minister

CHENNAI: The gay community in Chennai on Tuesday reacted strongly to what they called the “insensitive labelling of gay sex as a disease and unnatural” by union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.The  community, supported by the LGBT rainbow coalition, staged a 200-strong protest on Tuesday, demanding an apology from the minister. Sunil Menon, gay rights activist and founder of Sahodaran, an NGO, said, “This is a total shocker to me coming from somebody of his stature and standing. I would say this is really very regressive, a huge setback to all the work we have been doing for the past ten years.” Recalling the days of Dr Anbumani Ramadoss as Union Health Minister and the support he extended to the community, Menon said, “When Anbumani was the Health Minister, he spoke in the International HIV/AIDS Conference in Mexico about decriminalising gay sex, which he said is very important in the prevention of the spread of HIV.” Comparing notes on the present and past health ministers, he said he was saddened by the regressive tone set by Azad. “The minister’s remarks were totally uncalled for and reflects his deep-seated prejudice,” he said, adding that the he should go on record and apologise for his “totally ill-informed and insensitive” statements.Reacting to Azad’s statement that homosexuality was a disease that had come from other countries, Magdalene Jeyarathnam, director of the NGO Centre for Counselling, who has worked on LGBT rights issues for a decade, said, “This is a shame, coming from the health minister. He doesn’t know the difference between what is a disease and what is not. He should publicly apologise.”  Jaya, Programme Manager of  Sahodaran, added, “Kamasutra talks about homosexuality. Maybe the minister should read it to correct his misinformation.”