HOMOSEXUALITY-AN EPIDEMIC ?
SOCIETY | August 2, 2007 | ShareFighting for a cause
“We’re standing here in Philadelphia, the, uh, city of brotherly love, the birthplace of freedom, where the, uh, founding fathers authored the Declaration of Independence, and I don’t recall that glorious document saying anything about all straight men are created equal. I believe it says all men are created equal,” said Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) in the Oscar winning movie Philadelphia.
Movies like Philadelphia and closer home, My Brother Nikhil help one believe that a person’s sexual preference is his personal choice and should not be a cause of discrimination. To that extent they are right. But the point remains that homosexuals are among those most prone to diseases like HIV and AIDS. The fact that homosexuality is against the traditions and offends the cultural sensibilities of many people is secondary.
The crux of the issue is that homosexuals are at a very high risk of contracting diseases like AIDS and over the past few decades the number of homosexuals has increased manifold. Thus, if homosexuality were to be seen as a disease it can clearly be said that it has reached epidemic proportions. In 2006, UN AIDS estimated that 34.1-47.1 million people worldwide were living with HIV and about 5.1 million of them in India. It remains uncertain, however, whether India has more infected people than any other country.
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An obvious question: What “actions” to curb the situation do you have in mind? You say that you want to respect homosexuals but still think them responsible for the AIDS epidemic. So what do you think should actually be done in this case?
Another point that I would like to raise: you say that “the number of homosexuals has increased manifold”, but I am not so convinced of this. Not long ago the president of Iran claimed that there are no homosexuals there, and I had to laugh. In a culture where such practices are considered shameful, and in a country where men who have sex with men are put to death, it is clear that no one will admit to being a homosexual. But that means nothing about how many there actually are, only that none of them will dare to be noticed. So far as I know there is no proof that religious or traditional cultures have any less homosexuality at all, only that it is better hidden.
I would argue that if your main concern is disease, it is better for homosexuality to be more open and more visible. That way the rest of society can be aware of it, and disease specialists can study the spread of diseases more openly, rather than having homosexuality seen as a dangerous unknown effect.
In any case, it is not wise to see AIDS as primarily a problem of homosexuals. While it is true that homosexual populations tend to spread the disease more quickly, in countries where HIV is especially widespread (such as afflicted African countries), most transmission is between straight people, and the contribution from the homosexual population is a small problem in comparison.
This is the most absurd thing I’ve ever read. The number of gay people within our society has remained the same. Homosexuality IS NOT A CHOICE. It’s how people are born. HOMOSEXUALITY DOES NOT CAUSE AIDS. AIDS is a disease that spreads through unprotected sex.