Advocacy for legalizing homosexuality

The Naz Foundation (India), a New Delhi based NGO is at the forefront of the campaign to decriminalize homosexuality. The organization aims to sensitize the community to the prevalence of HIV, as well as highlight issues related to sexuality and sexual health. The organization has strong linkages with human rights groups and agencies such as Lawyers Collective, Human Right Law Network, Amnesty International, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Naz India has collaborated with these agencies to address cases of sexual rights abuse. Naz India’s efforts in sensitizing the government to different issues related to the epidemic include the amendment of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code commonly known as the ‘Anti-sodomy Law’. This act criminalizes same sex sexual behavior irrespective of the age and consent of the people involved, posing one of the most significant challenges in effective HIV/AIDS interventions with sexual minorities. 

International pressure

The United Nations urged India to decriminalize homosexuality by saying it would help the fight against HIV/AIDS by allowing intervention programmes, much like the successful ones in China and Brazil. Jeffrey O'Malley, director of the United Nations Development Programme on HIV/AIDS, said "countries protecting homosexuals from discrimination had better records of protecting them from getting infected by the diseases. [But] unfortunately in India, the rates of new infections among men who have sex with men continue to go up. Until we acknowledge these behaviors and work with people involved with these behaviors, we are not going to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic. Countries which protect men who have sex with men... have doubled the rate of coverage of HIV prevention services—as much as 60 percent." In talking to The Hindu, he added that "The United Progressive Alliance government here is in a difficult position as far as amending Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is concerned because of the coming elections as any changes could be misrepresented. We need to change the laws, sensitize the police and judiciary....But when discriminatory laws have been removed, marginalized people have got access to treatment and prevention facilities like condoms." Warning of the urgency he said, "India has achieved success in checking the spread of this dreaded disease through commercial sex workers but transmission through gay sex, and inject able-drug users is still an area of concern. Inject able-drug use can also be controlled through targeted interventions but is difficult to control or change people’s sexual orientation."