Indian politician Subramanian Swamy, the president of the Janata Party, wrote ‘Being gay is a mental disorder’ in a tweet on Monday (27 May).
The tweet attracted instant criticism although some thought it was a joke and others agreed with him. ‘Gay is not natural, it’s hormone problem,’ said one.
Indian LGBT rights campaigner Harish Iyer tweeted Swamy saying: ‘I think swamy you need to get educated. Let’s meeet. I offer free counselling to homophobes.’
Swamy appeared to be unfazed by the accusations of homophobia and tweeted ‘Looks like most CRTs are “queer”.’ CRT is a derogatory reference to members of the Congress political party,Gaylaxy reports.
Swamy, a right-wing Hindu, is a former cabinet minister and was an assistant economics professor at Harvard. He has caused controversy for anti-Islamic views, for example in an ‘incendiary’ article in response to the Mumbai bombings in 2011 which prompted the National Commission for Minorities to press criminal charges.
The politician’s daughter Suhasini Haider is a news anchor for Indian TV channel CNN-IBN.
Gay sex was decriminalized in Indian in 2009 when the Delhi High Court repealed Section 377 of the British colonial era penal code.
May 29, 2013 at 8:50 pm
Pls mention entire sequence of Tweet the Q asked to Dr Swamy and the response not just pick his reply n label him Homophobic. Also, if one chooses later stage of his life to turn Gay or Lesbian its a Physocological Mental problem – I knw there r different theories bt none fact.so.far
May 30, 2013 at 10:35 am
Dr Swamy – are you a psychologist?