Various Hindu organisations, based in India and abroad have supported decriminalisation of homosexual behaviours. In 2009, the Hindu Council UK became one of the first major religious organisations to support LGBT rights when they issued a statement "Hinduism does not condemn homosexuality". Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a prominent Hindu spiritual leader, has condemned sec 377 in a series of tweets, maintaining that "Hinduism has never considered homosexuality a crime" and "to brand a person a criminal based on sexual preference would be absurd".