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India may scrap gay sex law over HIV fears
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jul 27, 2006 12:07pm |
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| Category | Proposed Legislation |
| Media | Website - Yahoo News |
| News Date | Thursday, July 27, 2006 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Health authorities are calling for a repeal of a 145-year-old law that makes gay sex a crime, fearing it is causing HIV and AIDS to spread quickly in India's homosexual community, officials said Wednesday.
"So long as the gay community is forced to go underground, it limits the access to them and makes it difficult for the AIDS prevention campaign to reach them," Sujatha Rao, who heads the AIDS Control Organization, also known as NACO, told The Associated Press.
An Indian law enacted under British colonial rule in 1861 makes consensual sex between same-sex adults a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. While prosecutions are rare under the law, gay activists say police use it to harass them.
But with recent studies showing a sharp increase in HIV infections among India's gay community, the government has taken a first step to change the law. |
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