Ghulam Nabi Azad, India Health Minister, Calls Homosexuality A 'Disease'
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MUNEEZA NAQVI, Associated Press
NEW DELHI — India's health minister derided homosexuality as an unnatural "disease" from the West at an HIV/AIDS conference, drawing outrage Tuesday from a U.N. official and activists who said the comments set back campaigns for gay rights and against HIV.
In a hastily called news conference Tuesday evening, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was misquoted, though video of Monday's speech has aired repeatedly on Indian television.
"Some people have played with the words. I have been quoted out of context," he said. "My reference was to HIV as a disease. As health minister, I know (male homosexual sex) is not a disease."
His original speech echoed a common refrain in the conservative South Asian nation that homosexuality is a Western import.
"It is a matter of concern that, unfortunately, in the world and in our country this disease has arisen, where men are having sex with men, which is unnatural and should not be happening," Azad said, speaking in Hindi.
Anjali Gopalan, who heads the NAZ Foundation, a rights group that works with HIV positive people and promotes equal rights for homosexuals, said Azad's initial comments were deeply troubling coming from the health minister of a country fighting a tough battle against HIV infections.
