Public healthofficials and organizations working to diminish the impact of AIDSaround the world agree that more tolerant societies have betterprograms to combat AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. But,they say, discrimination against those whose sexual orientation differsfrom the norm, whether official, cultural or religious, often worksagainst efforts to control the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
Onenation that has taken steps in recent years to address the problem ofdiscrimination against gays is the conference host nation, Mexico.
"What we have done is, first, an amendment to theconstitution," said Dr. Jorge Saavedra, director of the Mexican National HIV/AIDSProgram. "It was done in 2001. It states that no one can bediscriminated against because of his or her preferences and then thenational law was approved. It is a national law against discriminationand it addresses specifically sexual orientation," he said.
Saavedrasays anti-gay discrimination and occasional violence continue in Mexicoand other Latin American nations in spite of laws against such actionsand that public education is still needed to change attitudes.
Hesays that Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are the leading nations in LatinAmerica in terms of protecting gay rights. Globally, he says thecountries that are most advanced in their non-discrimination policiesare The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Spain and South Africa, all ofwhich allow people of the same sex to marry.
Joel Nana, a nativeof Cameroon who works with a gay rights group in South Africa, saysefforts by outsiders to influence governments in Africa have sometimesbeen counterproductive because of the impression many Africans havethat gay sex is something being imposed from outside.
"Thebehavior has existed in Africa since the world was the world. But thelanguage we now use to call the behavior is new and it is the languagethat freaks people and it is the language that makes people feel thisis an imposition from the West. So what I would tell our European andAmerican brothers would be to be wary of the way they introduce theissue to various governments. They should build on the issue of thebehavior rather than the language," he said.
The situation forgays in the Middle East and Asia is especially difficult. ShivanandaKhan, Chair of the Asia-Pacific Coalition on Male Sex Health and aresident of India, said, "We are trying to find ways of creating dialoguewith Islamic leaders and Hindu leaders and Buddhist leaders to enablethem to understand the diversity of sexuality in human cultures. Rightnow, if I were to speak about issues of sexuality in Iran I couldpotentially get hanged. In India I could be arrested and in Afghanistanand Pakistan I could also be arrested."
Khan says hesees signs of hope because of recent inter-faith dialogues betweenChristian leaders and Muslim leaders on the issue of ending violenceagainst gays. He also notes that many of the discriminatory laws in hispart of the world originated from the British and were based on theirChristian values.
Delegates from other parts of the world sayreligion has often played a role in anti-gay discrimination and acts ofintolerance, but they note that some religious leaders, like BishopDesmond Tutu of South Africa, have been champions ofanti-discrimination. Some Christian leaders have encouraged moretolerance, citing the call to love thy neighbor. Members of some gayorganizations say they see real opportunities for dialogue withreligious leaders on this issue.