India: With Homosexuality Illegal, Gays Suffer AIDS Silently

Being gay and HIV-positive carries tremendous stigma in India -- a country where homosexuality is illegal and AIDS is so taboo that it is rarely discussed.

Humsafar Trust, a health organization in Bombay, offers medical treatment and HIV-prevention education for gay men. Humsafar Founder and Director Ashok Row Kavi said that despite being illegal, homosexuality is no less common in India than in the West. Kavi conservatively estimates that among India's 1 billion people, 20 million men are sexually attracted to other men and the number of those who have participated in some same-sex activity in their lifetime is much higher.

Despite the law's view of gays in the country, Humsafar's AIDS prevention efforts are funded by grants from the Bombay city government and U.S. groups. Samples indicate that 20 percent of gay men in Bombay are HIV-positive -- a frightening figure considering AIDS drugs are out of reach to all but the wealthiest Indian patients. "It's horrendous," said Kavi. "I personally know of 20 to 30 men closely linked to me that I know for sure are dying."

Kavi, a former journalist and self-described "ex-Hindu monk," said he is concerned about what will happen if HIV infections in India rise to 25 million, as some have projected. "Death on that scale is not going to be easy to take. But the fact is, it is staring us in the face."

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