Mexico City - Religion and sexuality make strange
bedfellows. No society has ever existed without them, but when it
comes to HIV and AIDS, the two social constructs coexist
uncomfortably.
Religion often acts as a barrier to HIV prevention work, AIDS
activists, public health experts and sociologists attending the XVII
International AIDS Conference said.
In the absence of a vaccine or cure for AIDS, it is education,
awareness and the consistent use of condoms that will stop HIV from
spreading.
Homosexuality, premarital and extramarital sex are a reality of
our lives, activists said. When religions make condemnations against
sex outside of marriage, same-sex behaviour, or the use of condoms or
other forms of contraception, it severely hinders efforts to prevent
new infections of HIV, a virus that is largely sexually transmitted.
According to a 2005 study conducted among young people in Mexico,
75 per cent said that religion did not influence their sexuality.
More than 50 per cent said they used condoms.
'Probably religion has abdicated its central place in people's
lives,' said Gabriella Rodriguez, assistant professor of infectious
disease at Mount Sinai Medical Centre, who discussed the study.
Given the predominantly Roman Catholic society in Mexico, the
church has had a 2,000-year history of prohibiting contraception and
homosexuality. 'However, the country has now approved legal union of
homosexuals, and women have access to abortion services,' Rodriguez
said.
Religion, culture and tradition are all critical issues for
successful HIV prevention programmes. While some religious
organizations have been very active in providing care and support for
people with HIV/AIDS, some have blocked measures that are regarded as
best practices in prevention and have helped to perpetuate judgements
of sexual behaviours and identities that make reaching vulnerable
populations more difficult.
'Sexuality and religion are not such different concepts. Both are
ideas and practises constructed by societies that are direct
expressions of the culture, ... symbols that play an essential role
in social relations,' Rodriguez said.
'Societies can exist without science, without art or philosophy.
But no society has existed without sexuality and religion.'
While sexuality controls the body, religion regulates the sacred.
But somewhere along the way, sexuality got linked to the sacred and
became controlled by religion.
Ashok Row Kavi, India's most prominent gay-rights activist, said
that sexuality was integral to Hinduism.
'Fulfillment of sexual desire and pleasure have been given high
importance in a culture which has allowed space for alternate
sexuality,' he said.
'We did not have homophobia. The culture of sexual openness was
repressed during the Mughal period and the (British) colonization
that followed.'
Most homosexuals say that religious orders have stigmatized them,
leading to unbearably high degrees of stigma and shame. Cipriano
Martinez, an Australian gay man living with HIV, said: 'I demand that
the pope apologize to gay men for promoting homophobia.'
'Faith-based institutions must treat HIV as a health issue and not
a moral issue. The association of HIV with 'sin' inhibits
prevention,' Martinez said.
For other gay men, religion and spirituality have ironically
helped them come to terms with their own sexuality. Kavi, a former
monk with the Ramakrishna Order in India, said that when he told a
fellow monk about his homosexuality, the monk responded, 'Why does
that bother you? We're not supposed to be having sex anyway.'
When Kavi responded that 'the world doesn't like us,' the monk
said that 'all fingers are not equal, the mother has also made the
homosexual.'
Given the central role that religion plays in many people's lives,
various initiatives have reached out to religious leaders to garner
their support against the AIDS epidemic.
Church leaders in northeastern India now support needle exchange
programmes for drug users. In places such as Ukhrul in the remote
north-eastern Indian state of Manipur, which has a highly
concentrated epidemic with 4 per cent of the population infected, the
church says that the impact of AIDS is so visible, they have no
choice but to respond.
'In order to get the support of religious leaders, it is important
for a programme to prove its good intentions and do good work that
benefits the community,' said Aparajita Ramakrishnan of the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation in India, referring to the power of the
church in Indian states like Manipur and Nagaland.
Last month, UNAIDS, the joint United Nations programme on
HIV/AIDS, brought together more than 70 Hindu leaders in the southern
Indian city of Bangalore.
'It was a path-breaking effort. The leaders said the (AIDS) issue
cannot be brushed aside, especially since it concerns young people,'
said JVR Prasada Rao, director of the UNAIDS support team for Asia
and the Pacific.
It is critical to address adolescent sexuality, because young
people form an important part of the target group for HIV prevention
services. According to UNAIDS, young people account for 45 per cent
of all new HIV infections. Yet many still lack complete information
on how to avoid exposure to the virus.
Given that the average age of marriage is increasing the world
over, as is premarital sex, religious norms would likely need to
evolve accordingly.
'We cannot expect religious leaders to be upfront about premarital
sex and condom use, but they do agree for the need to promote
responsible sexual behaviour,' Rao said.
RLPAug 5th, 2008 - 06:04:57
What a lousy article. I don't mean to preach, but AIDS is the simplest disease to beat. It would die in one generation if everybody followed the principles of most basic relgions.
Don't tell me that condoms and educating drug users will prevent spreading this disease. There is only one sure way, abstinence. I had a 0.000000% chance of contracting the disease becasue I didn't do drugs, and my wife and I made it to our wedding night.
Otherwise, it's just rolling the dice. It's just a matter of probability, if you engage in risky behavior, eventually you will get caught. If you are sexually active outside of marriage and regularly seek different partners, how can you expect to carry a condom in every situation that presents itself? Oh I get it, somebody who has no will power to wait for the right person is all of a sudden going to be able to withstand the temptation of having spontaneous sex without a condom with a perfect stranger....yeah right. This disease will keep spreading until people start changing principles. That will lead them to changing their behavior.
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