The Politics of sodomy law : a comparative study on the impacts of legal environments on National Hiv response for men who have sex with men in Malaysia and Indonesia

Abstract

The HIV epidemic is one of the greatest public health challenges societies and governments face today. The epidemic is also a crisis of human rights and social justice given the stigma and discrimination surrounding the key affected populations. Paradoxically, punitive laws that amplify such stigma and discrimination are employed by some governments. Sodomy law, which criminalizes homosexual behavior, is an example of such laws. The aim of this study was, therefore, to analyze the extent to which a sodomy law acts to influence the national AIDS authorities in derogating its responsibility to provide effective HIV response to MSM population. The analysis was conducted in two facets: firstly, the study corroborated Malaysian sodomy law as a social reform tool that aspired to impose an institutional homophobia; and secondly, the study demonstrated the lack of accountability on the part of the Malaysian government by highlighting the larger gap in MSM-oriented HIV response in the case of Malaysia when compared with that of Indonesia. The finding of this study suggests that the structural obstacles synthesized by sodomy law implied that legal intervention – namely, the repeal of sodomy law – is a essential to ensure a supportive environment in which HIV prevention, treatment and care can be successfully delivered to and accessed by MSM.