Hindu guru claims homosexuality can be ‘cured’ by yoga
The world’s most popular Hindu guru, Swami “Baba” Ramdev, has claimed homosexuality can be “cured” by yoga in a petition to India’s Supreme Court.
The television guru whose yoga programmes are watched by an estimated 85 million people throughout the world, made the claim in an appeal to the overturn a ruling last week which legalised homosexuality.
He has warned he will launch nationwide protests if the ruling is not struck down and said all of India’s main religions regarded homosexual acts as sins.
In his petition, he argued that homosexuality was a curable disease and that sufferers could seek a cure.
“It can be treated like any other congenital defect. Such tendencies can be treated by yoga, pranayam and other meditation techniques,” he said.
Pranayam are a series of breathing exercises which include hyperventilation, a slow release of breath while chanting “Om”.
His followers have said there are particular yoga positions which also help prevent sexual urges.
The overturning of India’s law criminalising homosexuality was welcomed by India’s gay community and by campaigners, including several leading designers and Bollywood stars.
See Hindu guru claims homosexuality can be ‘cured’ by yoga
Telegraph.co.uk -
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Religious groups in India have warned they will…
Religious groups in India have warned they will oppose any move to legalize homosexuality as the federal government prepares to hold talks on a law that classifies same-sex acts as crimes.
India’s Hindu nationalist main opposition has in the meantime called for a national debate on the legislation that law minister M. Veerappa Moily last week said would come up for a discussion within the government.
“This is a sensitive issue and warrants a debate within the Indian society at large before arriving at any decision,” said Sidharth Nath Singh, spokesman for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
An Indian court is due to give its judgment on a petition filed by a nonprofit group that has challenged the anti-gay provision of the penal code.
In a news conference last week, Moily refused to spell out his government’s stand on it because it awaits judicial determination. But his comments that the federal home minister was “contemplating” a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues on the law drew widespread coverage in the largely conservative country.
“Hope floats at rainbow parades,” read a caption on a front-page picture from a gay parade in New Delhi in Monday’s Times of India newspaper.
Participants in that march demanded repeal of Section 377 of the penal code, which criminalizes private consensual sex between adults of the same gender in the country. 
Watch a New Delhi march in support of gay rights »
Religious leaders, however, oppose any suggestion to scrap 377, describing homosexuality as “unnatural.”
“We are against calling homosexuality a criminal activity, but we are certainly in principle against legalizing it, because that would mean the state endorsing same-sex relationships,” said Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
Homosexuality “violates fundamental norms of a family,” he said.
See India faith leaders: Anti-gay law must stay CNN International
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Gay Take on Shakespeare Sets Off UK Row
For GLBT students in London, it must have been a romantic dream come true to see their lives and feelings depicted on the stage in a work pf passion and sweeping poetry authored by none other than William Shakespeare.
For others, however, the idea of a gay version of “Romeo and Juliet” called “Romeo and Julian” is “political correctness gone mad.”
The play was adapted by the London high schoolers in January for LGTB History Month.
But the kids’ playful reinterpretation of a timeless classic to pertain to their own lives ruffled some feathers, reported The Hindustan Times in a Feb. 28 article. See Gay Take on Shakespeare Sets Off UK Row
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Indian gay prince seeks true love through BBC series
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of the erstwhile state of Rajpipla in Gujarat, who is known for his gay sexual preferences, is seeking a true love through his role in a BBC series.
Gohil is among three princes who have been living under assumed names with the sole objective of finding true love. Gohil took the name Mani and worked in small jobs in the seaside town of Brighton for the series.
The two other princes in the forthcoming BBC series ‘Undercover Princes’ are Prince Remigius of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, and Prince Africa Zulu, a 30-year-old bachelor from Zululand in South Africa.
“I don’t think I could have found love in India because people who were attracted to me were more attracted by my princely fortune or princely status,” Gohil told BBC.
“I was undercover here, so it was easier — a litmus test - whether a person is genuinely in love with me.”
Gohil said the size of his bedroom in Brighton See Indian gay prince seeks true love through BBC series
Hindu, India
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