Quezon City - Two bosses of a gay pay for sex house that presented live shows have been arrested by agents of the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation.

Sixto Comia, chief of the NBI Intelligence Special Operations Division, said the raid followed information that a house in Cubao had been turned into a sex den where male dancers performed before a crowd of gay customers.

Arrests was made as soon as the “live show” started.

Apart from the two suspects, four young male dancers were also taken into custody by the NBI. The male dancers claimed they were recruited by the suspects and were paid 500-800 pesos a night excluding commissions.

Charges of violating Republic Act 9208 (Anti-human Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003) were filed against the two suspects.

Penang - Anti-vice police launched a raid on a gay sauna on Saturday evening, following a surveillance operation.

Police detained 14 men. George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid said six men, all naked, were caught in three toilets. The other men were detained for being on the premises.

He said the detainees, aged between 20 and 30, had been remanded to assist in investigations into immoral activities at the centre.

He said police raided the premises after keeping it under surveillance for a while.

“This was the third time the centre was raided since last November.”

Officers also claimed to have found 1800 condoms.

On Nov 5 last year, police raided the centre and discovered it was used to host a sex party. They rounded up 34 men, aged between 22 and 55. Among those arrested was a Briton.

ACP Azam said the raid was part of an on-going operation codenamed Operation Rose aimed at curbing immoral activities and “cleaning” up places like Leith Street, Penang Road and the Esplanade frequented by transvestites.

In a country where homophobia is common, raids such as this are not unusual.

Hong Kong - A High Court judge yesterday described the Broadcasting Authority’s censure of an RTHK program on homosexuality as “an impermissible restriction on freedom of speech.”

In ordering the authority to quash its official reprimand, Michael Hartmann said it was “plainly wrong” to believe the TV program Gay Lover promoted gay marriage.

“It is now recognized in our law that the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sex refers not only to gender but also to sexual orientation,” the judge said.

As Hartmann viewed it, the 2006 program in which judicial review applicant Cho Man-chit - along with his gay partner and a lesbian couple - had featured was a study of the human condition.

The authority, after receiving a number of complaints, concluded the show failed to be impartial as it did not present opinions of those against gay marriage.

The judge rejected that argument, saying impartiality could be interpreted in a different way.

“RTHK did no more than faithfully record the fears, hopes, travails and aspirations of a person who happened to be gay,” he said. “It did so faithfully, in an unprejudiced manner.”

Hartmann was surprised that all programs dealing with controversial issues are required by the authority’s code of practice to be impartial, pointing to issues such as the fight against bird flu and child slavery. He said the Broadcasting Authority’s misunderstanding of the code resulted in a restriction on freedom of speech, being founded on the discriminatory factor that homosexuality may be offensive to certain viewers.

But the judge did support the authority’s contention that the program should have been shown after 8.30pm. It was shown during family viewing hours at 7.35pm and 7.10pm on the Jade and Pearl channels.

The authority had argued in a letter that children and young viewers watching the program might have no knowledge of homosexuality and be adversely affected by its partial contents if parental guidance was not provided.

Kathmandu - Nepal’s historic election in April that dethroned its king and gave power to the former Maoist guerrillas will also see a social revolution with the first gay representative nominated to the new constituent assembly.

Sunil Babu Pant, 35, a crusader for gay equality who founded the first organisation to protect the rights of the sexual minorities, has been chosen by a minor communist party to represent it in Nepal’s 601-member constituent assembly.

“We are honoured to send Pant as our representative to the constituent assembly,” said Ganesh Shah who’s Communist Party of Nepal-United has won five seats in the assembly under the country’s proportional representation system.

“We hope it will improve the lives of a people who are the most repressed in Nepal, disowned both by society and their own families,” he added.

Pant founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2002, which is now one of the best known gay rights groups in South Asia. The Society fights for molested and detained gays, promotes HIV/AIDS awareness, runs a hospice for terminally ill gay patients, and provides training and jobs to members of the community.

Canberra - Gay couples in Australia are on the verge of winning equality in tax, health, superannuation, aged care and other areas as the Federal Government moves to rush through laws to overturn same-sex discrimination.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland will introduce amendments to Parliament as early as next month to alter around 100 federal laws.

The changes will not allow gay marriages or same-sex couples to adopt children, and the issue of access to the Family Court for same-sex couples is still being resolved.

Some of the changes would take effect immediately, but many financial laws - such as social security, tax and veterans’ affairs - would be phased in by mid-2009. But first the changes will have to be passed by the Senate, where the Coalition retains its majority until July 1.

Even after then, Labor will need the vote of conservative Christian and Family First senator Steve Fielding and independent senator Nick Xenophon if it cannot clinch Coalition support.

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson has signalled he backed the principle of removing discrimination against gay couples but has yet to secure formal support from his colleagues.

Mr McClelland will move swiftly to push through the changes, which could cost up to $400 million over four years and are expected to be written into the federal budget on May 13.

The changes will include around 100 laws identified by an audit commissioned after the Government came to power last November.

It built on a 2007 report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, which identified 58 financial and work-related laws where gay couples faced discrimination.

“The changes will provide for equality of treatment under a wide range of Commonwealth laws between same-sex and opposite-sex de facto couples,” Mr McClelland will say today.

“They will make a practical difference to the everyday lives of a group of our fellow Australians who have suffered discrimination under Commonwealth laws for far too long.”

The changes will apply in tax, superannuation, social security, health, aged care, veterans’ payments, workers’ compensation and employment entitlements.

Under existing laws, gay partners cannot inherit each others financial entitlements such as superannuation, veterans’ pensions or workers’ compensation. They can also be excluded from hospital visiting rights or exercising automatic medical power of attorney for one another.

Australian Coalition for Equality spokesman Rodney Croome said he was overjoyed by the move. “Many same sex-partners can’t wait much longer,” he said. “For them this is an urgent reform, particularly in superannuation and aged care. For their sake alone it’s important that this reform happens quickly.”

Mr Croome urged the Coalition to get behind the changes.

He also called for automatic recognition under federal law of couples on same-sex relationship registers run by the states, giving them automatic spousal entitlements. Tasmania already has such a scheme and Victoria will have one by the end of the year.

Australian Christian Lobby chairman Jim Wallace said last night the changes would need to be scrutinised to ensure they did not undermine the institution of marriage. But he agreed there was a case to remove discrimination in many laws, especially where children were being disadvantaged by current laws.

“… but what we would not want to see are changes in areas that confuse the definition of family or undermine the definition of marriage,” he said.