Fridae

This is a terrible reminder to us all not to be complacent. Last year when India repealed its 377a it was a great step forward. And now this is the 5 steps backwards. Could this happen in other countries like Singapore? I think so. It could happen in any country where the law does not protect minority groups. Homosexuals are an easy and soft target. Biologically, we will never be in the majority (despite what many supposedly clever people may believe). Homosexuality can be easily demonised regardless of your religious, or a-religious affiliations. And so on. Fixing the legal protection aspect will go a long way. Even though it won't change personal opinions and prejudices. In this case, I hope the privacy laws win out. Otherwise India's legal framework will be seen as shonky and suspect. There is always an uglier truth behind activities like these. And this will come out soon enough. For too long now people in power have used homosexuality as a convenient distraction to hide behind other actual evils. We shall see. All will be revealed. The last one laughing may well be Dr Siras. I sincerely hope so. As for the university trying to uphold its moral reputation - how naive and backward is that thinking? The good news is, history has shown us that when you impose a medieval and socially retarded culture, you drive away any real thinkers and innovators. And over time, that society will regress and stagnate. My prediction is AMU will lose its relevance soon enough. And serves them right.

Agreed with @18. All these can be "quietly" resolved without the added involvement of the media which can and will only aggravate the situation to beyond salvation. The fact that media and the likes were called in only serves to drag him further down in the mud. This only suggest that he offended someone or/and that someone decides to make him a scapegoat example.

I am also ADAM

I'm glad to hear this news :)

Everything ArchBishop Desmond Tutu said is true but EVIL does not reason nor listen. Only way is removal of such evil asap or persist in the courage of one people to keep on fighting to be heard. The basic 1st step is to identify and ban deliberate dissenters that pollute genuine efforts to assist the afflicted community with irrelevant chaos disguised as free speech to probate logic. We can start right here in such forums to weed out these troublemakers. Tolerance for such travesties like gymhotbod, kuman and lagunabro must be terminated-period!

sad

What astounds me is that the police and the judiciary are so corrupt as to not even accept the complaint unless he removes a key person in his complaint. That is obscene.

I'm quite late in seeing this. I've lived in Malaysia for a total of 8 years and NEVER encountered homophobia until... last week- Indian (Moslem) security gurards I saw selling car park passes to prostitutes, and that's why residents can't park. On raising this issue, I was told, VERY aggressively "You are not a real man. Go back to your own country. I had previuosly seen gurads selling drugs to the prostitutes. So, this is a real life situation (the head of security had me arrested and charged with threatening the guard). Commentators above make the distinction about non-consensual sex. I haven't read the Quran, but I think it's also a mistake made in the west too.

one step forward two steps back ? but it is good to see support from all sides ..so hope is not all gone yet ...but this will be a precedence and could be a blessing in disguise to further champion for gay rights and open the eyes of the local about being just and discrimination bestow upon gay people ...

Even if he was not "really in touch with his homosexuality" by the time he entered politics, one would think a 50 something knows he is a homosexual, has personal ethical standards and values, and not acts as a mindless self-conflicting, self-hating politician "because my constituents want me to vote that way". I have plenty of straight friends who passionately support gay rights, your comment just shows how shallow and ignorant you are, despite your age. One would think wisdom comes with age! I live in the US not because of the Republican party but my intellect. Before you open your mouth and make these moronic speculations, you need to question yourself how idiotic you will sound to others. That wisdom comes with age, but I guess it has escaped you. And while I am doing my squats, I think of how great I will feel afterward. A healthy mind in a healthy body, remember that?

thumbs up for my city!

Call it set-up, entrapment, tragedy or whatever....the way I see it, we can view this issue in two ways. 1st, he most probably would have steeped in someone's tail...like having said something really harsh to some of the university's authorities. That's why they decided to 'take action'. I'm sure the university already knows before this and has so far decided to close an eye until now. You've all seen this happening in other countries where even their leaders have been taken to task. Secondly, the university certainly had the rights to dismiss him. Please note that he wasn't actually doing it in 'his own private' home but in an official university residence. In a way, it does contradict the university's code of ethics or compromise his professionalism as an educator. This has nothing to do with him being entitled to his own privacy. The university does have its right. I'm not condoning or condemning anyone but this opinion is something for all of us to think about. After all homosexuality is still quite a taboo issue in many institutions and countries. So let's 'cover our backsides'!

Call it set-up, entrapment, tragedy or whatever....the way I see it, we can view this issue in two ways. 1st, he most probably would have steeped in someone's tail...like having said something really harsh to some of the university's authorities. That's why they decided to 'take action'. I'm sure the university already knows before this and has so far decided to close an eye until now. You've all seen this happening in other countries where even their leaders have been taken to task. Secondly, the university certainly had the rights to dismiss him. Please note that he wasn't actually doing it in 'his own private' home but in an official university residence. In a way, it does contradict the university's code of ethics or compromise his professionalism as an educator. This has nothing to do with him being entitled to his own privacy. The university does have its right. I'm not condoning or condemning anyone but this opinion is something for all of us to think about. After all homosexuality is still quite a taboo issue in many institutions and countries. Sp let's 'cover our backsides'!

If personal attacks are not to be tolerated, I am amazed that some of the very nasty comments here against Kuman and myself and anyone else who has shown a little sympathy for Mr Ashburn, have not been moderated more. You all talk diversity, but your responses are largely intolerant and hateful. Chances are that Mr Ashburn was not really in touch with his homosexuality when he entered politics. I have known many people like him, particularly lawyers and politicians and doctors and ministers of religion. Most people do not emerge from a chrysalis as a perfectly formed gay man with impeccable PC credentials. Furthermore, many straights looking at your comments would say to themselves," these people certainly live up to the stereotype of the nasty, bitchy fag, why should we advance their cause at all?" Gluestick, I'm doing just fine, thank you. I won't be voting Democrat just because of your charm offensive towards me. It's probably because of the Republican party that you can enjoy the many privileges of living in the West and not on a rubbish heap in communist Vietnam. Think about that while you are doing your squats! Is it not drunken driving, by the way?

I wonder what Nobel peace prize-winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa would say about a such a rich country as Singapore discriminating in the provision of health care to HIV patients. Here he is, today writing in the Washington Post about discrimination against gays generally, and in relation to HIV health care, in Africa. The discrimination may not be so violent in Singapore, but it appears to be cut from the same cloth, and is, for some people, just as deadly. “Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity -- or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity. “It is time to stand up against another wrong. “Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God's family. And of course they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved continent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights and freedoms. Men have been falsely charged and imprisoned in Senegal, and health services for these men and their community have suffered.... Kenyan religious leaders, I am ashamed to say, threatened an HIV clinic there for providing counseling services to all members of that community, because the clerics wanted gay men excluded. .... “Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are living in fear. And they are living in hiding -- away from care, away from the protection the state should offer to every citizen and away from health care in the AIDS era, when all of us, especially Africans, need access to essential HIV services. THAT THIS PANDERING TO INTOLERANCE IS BEING DONE BY POLITICIANS [my caps] looking for scapegoats for their failures is not surprising. BUT IT IS A GREAT WRONG. An even larger offense is that it is being done in the name of God. Show me where Christ said "Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones." Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God. “ "But they are sinners," I can hear the preachers and politicians say. "They are choosing a life of sin for which they must be punished." My scientist and medical friends have shared with me a reality that so many gay people have confirmed, I now know it in my heart to be true. No one chooses to be gay. Sexual orientation, like skin color, is another feature of our diversity as a human family. Isn't it amazing that we are all made in God's image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people? Does God love his dark- or his light-skinned children less? The brave more than the timid? And does any of us know the mind of God so well that we can decide for him who is included, and who is excluded, from the circle of his love? “The wave of hate must stop. Politicians who profit from exploiting this hate, from fanning it, must not be tempted by this easy way to profit from fear and misunderstanding. And my fellow clerics, of all faiths, must stand up for the principles of universal dignity and fellowship. Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice.” (The writer is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984). I’ve shortened it slightly, but the whole thing can be read here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031103341.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

@18; I see what you mean, the proctor's hand could have been forced by the conspiracy between the journalists and other academics, who may have published behind his back. It would have been much more sensible just to let the prof quietly work out his remaining few months and retire. But obviously somebody wanted him out quickly, and possibly without a pension. I wonder what he had just been appointed Chairman of? Had he perhaps had something to do with the Inquiry against the proctor springing back to life? Or was it just someone's academic jealousy? If it was simple homophobia, it would have happened years ago. In any event, there were several crimes and civil wrongs committed against him, and it's good he has the support to fight back.

I believe certain individuals were responsible for the entrapment, but the proctor's response seems to indicate that the university as a whole probably dont want to publicise the issue, and the desire to remain untanished in that reputation is indicated by the need to fire him. They could certainly come up with more specious reasoning that to fire a gay guy than tell the world and entrap him with video evidence. I'm sure we've all seen homophobia at work without demanding so much evidence. my point really was that the newspapers exacerbated the issue by agreeing to publish this news without any ethical consideration.

@15 finn72; not so as regards sweeping under the carpet, please read all three articles closely, in particular the step by step account in "Policing morality at AMU: An independent fact finding report". University personnel and the journalists/cameraman appear to have been in on the whole thing; how do you think they got access to a private room on campus? The university is already under investigation by the Indian President for financial irregularities, an inquiry that had just restarted when this major, sudden distraction occurred. The university also, uniquely, has its own secret police (staff of 13) who spy on students and staff, who appear likely to have been involved. There's also this in the press article: "Speaking to The Indian Express, Siras said he was targeted by a colleague. “A professor had told me that he would not let me remain in the Chairperson’s position for long. Barely a week later, this happened,” said Siras, adding that he was not filmed having sex. “I never hid the fact that I was gay, but was never overt about it either.”" And he had been teaching at the university for 22 years, due to retire in a few months.

I'm actually worried about the fact that the media showed a total disregard to social responsibility by publishing the story. I suspect that the uni would have much preferred to sweep its 'dirty laundry' under the rug and not be put into the position of firing him. The whole thing sounds like a kneejerk reaction to homophobic public affront.