Just as India's LGBT community was celebrating the Delhi High Court's historic judgment in reading down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which effectively decriminalised consensual gay sex on July 2, 2009, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad stunned many on Monday by calling homosexuality "unnatural", and a "disease" which is "spreading fast" in the country.
"The disease of MSM is unnatural and not good for India. We are not able to identify where it is happening as it less reported also," said Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who spoke in Hindi. He was speaking at a national convention on HIV/AIDS with parliamentarians and representatives from the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and UNAIDS in attendance.
The minister, a member of the Indian National Congress, took over the health portfolio from Dr Anbumani Ramadoss after the elections in 2009. The Health Ministry, with Dr Ramadoss at the helm, was a strong advocate of legalising same-sex relations to advance the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Azad's comments has drawn strong condemnation from gay and HIV/AIDS activists, and local and international media coverage.
Sangama, a Chennai-based human rights organisation specialising in the rights of sexual minorities, has called for an apology and immediate resignation of the minister.
"The Honorable Minister’s statement reveals his abject ignorance of international medical and scientific opinion that homosexuality is not a disease... The honorable Minister needs to educate himself on public health and scientific opinion grounded in evidence before airing his views or continuing in his position," the group said in a statement.
It also expressed concern that the minister's is damaging the efforts of groups such as India's National AIDS Control Organization Programme (NACP-III), an initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), that have been working to help MSM and transgender people access healthcare.
Onir, an openly gay film-maker (of My Brother... Nikhil fame), was quoted in the Times of India as saying: "Ghulam Nabi Azad must apologise. As a minister of the largest democracy, he can't deny equal rights to any citizen of this country because of his personal prejudice. He is answerable to the nation and the image of our nation internationally."
The Wall Street Journal has described Azad's comments as "pull(ing) an Mbeki" – referencing former South African President Thabo Mbeki's controversial comments in 2000 at a global conference where hundreds of delegates walked out after they were told by Mbeki that he didn't think the HIV virus is the sole cause of AIDS.
(In Hindi and English, 0.48 mins onwards)