The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Stigmatized, they plead for recognition

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Stigmatized, they plead for recognition

Special Correspondent

MSM community participates in “melukolupu”
Meet organised in connection with the World AIDS Day

Hyderabad: They talked openly sans any inhibitions. And perhaps for the first time they poured out their hearts to the media. They are the stigmatised lot, persons one would not like to be seen with.

But on Thursday they had a grand get-together. They freely exchanged views and talked about the ‘trauma’ they faced. Yes, they belonged to the MSM (men who have sex with men) community and some of them were transgender too. They were here as part of “melukolupu” organised in connection with the World AIDS Day.

The programme was sponsored by the A.P. State AIDS Control Society at the Indira Priyadarshini Hall, Public Gardens, with a view to reduce stigma and discrimination against the MSMs. More than 1,000 members turned up and later presented a fashion show.

Later, participating in a discussion they spoke about their ordeal. Right from childhood the discrimination started with their own families objecting to their sexual behaviour. “Our life is a vicious circle. Education is not our priority and we don’t have any skills. The only option open to us is sex”, said Agniva Lahiri, a transexual activist.

B. Gangaiah of Hindustan Latex Family Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) said though the scientific community did not consider them ‘unnatural’, the society had yet to recognise them.

The use of section 377 (unnatural sex) by police was forcing them to go underground and as such HIV prevention among them was becoming difficult. Many of the MSMs were bisexuals and were transmitting infection in the general population, he said.

Rex, former president, Sangama NGO, Bangalore, said the MSMs faced life long harassment and wondered who were to be blamed. T. Kailash Ditya, joint director (TI), APSACS, said from December 1 link workers would start operating in Guntur, Karimnagar, Medak, Khammam and East Godavari districts. They would work with the high risk groups in the rural areas. There were 47,000 MSMs in the State of whom 17 percent were infected with HIV.

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