To
Mrs Sonia Gandhi
UPA Convener
Member of Parliament
New Delhi, India


Dear Mrs Gandhi,

We were extremely encouraged by the stand that you took during the UNGASS in June 2001 while leading the Indian deligation, wherein you specifically stated that gay and lesbian persons need to have their human and fundamental rights protected, and therefore you supported the participation of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in the UNGASS deliberation process.

For a lot of activists working towards securing the rights of queer persons in India and attempting to get rid of the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code through a judicial process, it was the first recognition by a national leader of the importance of human rights of queer individuals.

When the UPA government was formed and you were saddled with the responsibility of being its convener in parliament, we felt that the government led under your guidance would take positive measures to secure such rights. We have seen positive movement in this direction as well, especially when the National AIDS Control Organisation, under the UPA government, filed its response to the petition challenging the constitutionality of Section 377 before the Delhi High Court and stated therein that Section 377 IPC is a bad law that impedes HIV prevention intervention and should therefore be nullified.

Further encouragement came in the light of information that the younger generation of leaders within the congress party were open and accepting of the universality of human rights for queer persons. When Mr Rahul Gandhi visited Mexico City and visited HIV prevention efforts targeting gay men and expressed his solidarity with gay rights, we felt confident that the situation would turn for the better even in India when the new generation of leaders come to lead the nation. We felt that this vision of a rights oriented existence of all individuals including queer individuals as expressed in the actions of the new leaders was the result of your guidance and tutelage.

Recently however, we have been disturbed by news emanating from various different news services that one George Lee Clark, who is an unsuccessful actor from Hollywood and whose bigger claim to fame is his preachings of hate against all queer individuals, is on a world tour to preach his brand of hatred and that while he visits India he would be meeting with yourself, with the Honorable Prime Minister Mr Manmohan Singh, and with various Supreme Court Justices. Please see the URL below for details:


http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/film/200803218223.htm

George Lee Clark revels in stoking homophobia amongst the masses, often igniting violence against peaceful and non-interfering queer people. He is not the kind of individual who should be honored with an audience by either yourself or any other dignitary of the India State. It would sully your own reputation as a leader with a forward looking and human rights based approach to leadership and policy making. A meeting with the prime minister and with judges of the Supreme Court would also give the impression of the Indian State aligning itself with the retrograde forces of mindless violence and hatred, and not with forces of progressive and enlightened egalitarianism.

We appeal to you that it is best to treat persons whose only agenda is preaching hate with the disdain they deserve and to completely ignore them, not honor them with a meeting. Please do not meet with George Lee Clark and give his homophobia and hate mongering the stamp legitimacy.

We also hope that you would use your good office to persuade the Hon'ble Prime Minister and the Hon'ble Justices of the Supreme Court to also ignore George Lee Clark and refuse him an audience.