[Reader-list] March with family and friends on World AIDS Day 2003 (December 1)

[nkarani at hotmail.com]

World AIDS Day, December 1, is being celebrated in a unique way this year by The Humsafar Trust, Mumbai. We are organizing a candle light march by the city's gay community and friends of gay people to highlight the ignorance and shame that surrounds homosexuality in India and the resultant grave effects on the physical and mental health of the community.

The programme
We shall assemble at the main gate (Dharavi side) of LTMG Hospital (Sion Hospital) around 6.30 p.m. on Monday, December 1, 2003 and walk with placards and candles to Maheshwari Udyan, Matunga. There, the assembly will observe two minute's silence in memory of friends and family we have lost to HIV. Dr. (Mrs.) Hema Jerajani, Head of the Department, Dermatology & STIs, LTMG Hospital, among others, will address the gathering.

The background
The gay community forms a sizeable minority. Sadly, between 16-25 per cent (according to the estimates of the National Aids Control Organization) of gay men are infected with HIV. An important reason for their vulnerability is the extreme discomfort and invisibility around homosexuality compounded by its criminalisation by the Indian Penal Code. The latent homophobia in Indian society and the lack of a discourse on sexualities spread misinformation and prejudice in society. Consequently, the gay community at large lacks a sense of identity and self-worth, leading to unsafe sex among people. The Humsafar Trust has been battling these very pressures and prejudices for over 10 years now.

 

For more information, please contact Mr. Ashok Row Kavi, Humsafar Trust, on 98203-30169.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20031130/a5f41b10/attachment.html