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In a written submission filed by Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra, the Centre said that legalising Men having sex with Men (MSM), as pleaded by gay rights activists, would lead to spread of the dreaded disease and placed reports of various countries to substantiate its stand.
"In Zambia, one in three (33 per cent) surveyed men who have sex with men tested HIV-positive. In the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, 43 per cent of men who said they had sex only with other men were found to be living with HIV," the government said, quoting the United Nations report on Global AIDS Epidemic, 2008.
"In Bangkok, HIV prevalence among men who have sex with men rose from 17 per cent in 2003 to 28 per cent in 2005 and it is estimated that as many as 21 per cent new HIV infections in Thailand in 2005 were attributable to unprotected sex between men," the Centre said.
The 100-page written submission was filed by the Centre as the court, while reserving the order, had allowed the government to file any additional submission in a written form.
Centre's response came on a PIL filed by gay rights activists seeking the court's direction to decriminalise gay sex among consenting adults in private.
At present, homosexuality is an offence in the country and Section 377 of Indian Penal Code provides punishment for up to life imprisonment for engaging in such acts.
Malhotra pointed out that MSM population is the most vulnerable to infection by HIV.
"More than eight per cent of 25 lakh population of MSM are infected by HIV while the HIV prevalence among the general population is estimated to be less than one per cent," he said.
"Unprotected sex between men is still the main mode of HIV transmission in both Canada and the United States – 40 per cent of new HIV diagnoses in Canada in 2006 and 53 per cent in the USA in 2005 are because of gay sex," the government said.
"More than half (57 per cent) of the HIV diagnoses to date in Mexico have been attributed to unprotected sex between men," Malhotra said quoting from a research paper of 2006.
Earlier, a Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar had reserved the order and asked the parties to file written submission if they have any additional points to raise in the case.
Gay rights activists had contended that the government by not decriminalising homosexual acts was infringing upon their fundamental right to equality on the ground of morality.
"The Constitution gives fundamental right to equality and it prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. But the rights of 25 lakh homosexuals in the country are being violated," they had contended.
"Moral argument cannot triumph over the constitutional rights in a democratic society where fundamental rights prohibit any discrimination on the ground of sex," the activists had said and alleged that gays in the country were being treated as "second-class citizens".
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Disapproval for homosexuality is a European disease, which we have caught from the missionaries. Even though Jesus proscribes insulting behavior towards homosexuals (Matthew 5:22; KJV), Christianity, controlled by Europeans, developed a strong bias against it. Ancient cultures have always had a place for the homosexual, maybe not the best one, but they were indeed recognized as humans and not excrement. Homosexual sex does seem disgusting, but viewed clinically, even the act of heterosexual union can be quite disgusting to a mind which is not conditioned by culture to see it as otherwise. There is no need to justify it, or find an excuse for it. It simply is. Sex is sex,and it can be depraved or perverted or divine - depends on the individual. Instead of wasting all this time and energy on a thing that has been with us for ages, the Government, if so obsessed with sex, could do something about people forced into the prostitution industry. Or shall we just castrate the buggers?
absolutely ridiculous we already know that unsafe sex of any kind can expose one to HIV . Crminializing a disease is unehtical and cowardly . Ecah man and woman is responsible for their health and should not be afraid to ask the pertinent questions before engagaging in sexual behaviors
It's astonishing that in a country where HIV is primarily spread through heterosexual sex, the center's advocates spew such nonsense. The HIV virus doesn't distinguish between gay or straight, black or white. Continuing the Victorian British ban on homosexuality will do nothing to lessen the occurrence of HIV infection. Promoting safe sex via the use of condoms will. However, what is even more astonishing that a doctor posts comments on how homosexuality can be "counseled" away. It makes me worry about the state of medical education in India, when a doctor promotes ideas that the medical and scientific establishments in the same Anglo-Saxon societies that first criminalized homosexuality in India have downright rejected. Sad isn't it that an Indian doctor in 2008 believes in 19th century hocus pocus Victoriana that Indians in the 19th century never thought worth criminalizing.
dear editor, gays are beaten by a society that just does not care about them. if we believe in a tit for tat society, we should say that gays should beat the hand that beats them. why not? are gays not people? dont they have a sex drive? perhaps they have a sexual drive that is higher than normal and thus they turn to partners who can satisfy them. but gays are persons first. they need to be treated with respect love and understanding. they can easily break the hand that beats them, but they guard against social scorn. they can have those arrested. but they guard against love for men. gays love deeply, unconditionally and purely. their love is simply divine. but divinity rejects them, as does every religion. no religion accepts a gay, only another man does. is this not a tragedy of the constipation called life. we need a gay king, a gay ruling and a gay prime minister and not just a gay dostana to truly change things in the world. dont you agree?
How can homosexuality lead to HIV if condoms are used? If this is not true, I and my partners would have had HIV 25 years ago!
In spite of such negative effects and unnatural and shameful act, we fail to understand why our honorable Health Minister, a professional Doctor too has taken a favorable view of homosexuality. Instead of dealing with the root cause of the basic disease, he suggests ways to treat the symptoms. What the homosexuals need is the counseling, education and psychological treatment and may be by much deeper research, may be a closer look at genetical engineering. His idea of legalizing is simply despicable in a conservative country like India where all religions disapprove homosexual relations.