Related
Stories
Archbishop Tutu heads an HIV foundation in South Africa |
Archbishop
Desmond Tutu has called for homosexuality to be decriminalised to help tackle
HIV.
His
comments come in an analysis in The Lancet journal of why incidence of the
virus continues to grow among men who have sex with men.
Dr Tutu
said anti-homosexuality laws would in the future be seen as "wrong"
as apartheid laws are now.
Campaigners
said it was important for community leaders to speak out.
The archbishop
is patron of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, based in Cape Town, which
provides treatment for HIV and carries out research.
Writing in
The Lancet, he said: "In the future, the laws that criminalise so many
forms of human love and commitment will look the way apartheid laws do to us
now - so obviously wrong.
"Never
let anyone make you feel inferior for being who you are. When you live the life
you were meant to live, in freedom and dignity".
Also
writing in The Lancet, an international team of researchers, led by Prof Chris
Beyrer of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, said
men who have sex with men (MSM) bore a "disproportionate burden" of
HIV.
The fact
HIV was first identified in gay men has "indelibly marked the global
response" and "stigmatised those living with the virus", they
said.
The
researchers' paper said there was optimism among HIV specialists about the
potential to use prevention, such as the drug Truvada, to reduce levels of HIV
in men who have sex with men.
Earlier
this week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada for
preventative use in those at high risk of infection and who may engage in
sexual activity with HIV-infected partners, the first time it has approved a
drug to prevent HIV infection.
'Struggle
for equity'
But the
international team said the picture was very different in many other countries.
"In
too many settings in 2012, MSM still do not have access to the most basic of
HIV services and technologies such as affordable and accessible condoms,
appropriate lubricants and safe HIV testing and counselling," they said.
"The
struggle for equity in HIV services is likely to be inseparably linked to the
struggle for sexual minority rights—and hence to be both a human rights
struggle, and in many countries, a civil rights one."
The paper,
published on the eve of the international Aids 2012 conference, adds that by
the end of 2011, only 87 countries had reported prevalence of HIV in MSM.
Data is
most sparse in the Middle East and Africa, where homosexual activity is a
criminal offence.
The
researchers call for same-sex relations to be decriminalised in all countries,
so that a true picture of the scale of HIV in men who have sex with men can be
ascertained.
A
spokeswoman for the UK's Terrence Higgins Trust said: "We've got to have
community leaders and people with influence speaking out.
"That's
why what Desmond Tutu is saying is so important."
And she
said it was right to focus efforts on men who have sex with men, in all
countries.
She added:
"In London, one in seven gay men has HIV."
Related Articles:
Plea to introduce anti-HIV pill in the Netherlands
American Service Members to March in Gay Pride Parade
UN chief Ban tells African Union summit to uphold gay rights
UN chief Ban tells African Union summit to uphold gay rights
Plea to introduce anti-HIV pill in the Netherlands
New Chinese dictionary in row over 'gay' omission
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”
"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)
No comments:
Post a Comment