India's Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss is speaking out against the nation's antiquated penal code which criminalizes homosexuality, saying it inhibits the government's ability to fight AIDS in the country.
Said Ramadoss at the 17th International Conference on Aids in Mexico City: “Structural discrimination against those who are vulnerable to HIV such as sex workers and men having sex with men must be removed if our prevention, care and treatment programmes are to succeed. The key to overcoming the HIV epidemic is to take HIV services to those on the margins of society and we can only do that in an enabling environment.”
The law is currently being challenged in court, and while the Health Ministry has given the challenge its blessing, India's Home Ministry has stated its opposition.
