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REPORT: Kenyan Men Forced into Gulf Sex Trafficking

Very disturbing news coming from Kenya. The East African nation's new LGBT magazine Identity reports that college students and unemployed men have been forced into sex trafficking. Young men are reportedly being lured to Gulf states with the promise of high-paying jobs ... but ultimately become sex slaves.

Jordan-based Al Bawaba reports:

The report alleges that gay and bisexual men are lured from university campuses – particularly from Kenyatta University – with promises of high-paying jobs and then transported to labor as sex workers for men in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the magazine, due to Kenya’s soaring unemployment rate, the men are easily fooled into this trap. The publication interviewed one Kenyan victim who was promised a job in Qatar but ended up suffering sexual abuse.

Qatar specifically, has no laws against human trafficking, which has made cracking down on the practice nearly impossible. “Qatar is a transit and destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution,” the US State Department stated in a recent report.

The expose is on page 33 of the December issue of Identity. It's an excellent magazine on LGBT issues and  includes several reports on the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.. Read a PDF HERE.

Kenya's government is considered moderate on gay rights. They were the first African nation to include gay and bisexual men in their national HIV strategy. Two pro-LGBT justices were confirmed to the Supreme Court in June.

But there has been a backlash against calls to decriminalize homosexuality in the East African nation, such as one cabinet minister's proposal to scrap the nation's sodomy laws. Last November, Prime Minister Raila Odinga called for the mass arrests of gays at a political rally but later retracted his statements.

Some Background ...
KENYA: Pro-LGBT Justices Confirmed
Controversy in Kenya After Pro LGBT Nominees
Kenyan Prime Minister: "All Gays Should Be Arrested"
KENYA: Questions Surround Mandatory HIV Testing
AIDS 2010: Joel Nana on African Gay/Bi Men, HIV
WATCH: CNN Surveys Gay Rights in SA, Kenya, Cuba
Kenyan Gays Demand Protection After Brutal Assault
Kenya: "Things are Changing in Favor of Gays"

67 Filipino Men Face More Than 50 Lashes for Gay Party in Saudi Arabia

At least 67 Filipino workers face prison and public lashes after being arrested at a gay party celebrating Philippine Independence Day at a Riyadh villa. Some of the men were in drag, according to Agence France Presse.

"They had alcohol and some were dressed up like women," Philippines embassy Vice Consul Roussel Reyes said. Both drinking and cross-dressing are forbidden under Saudi Arabia's conservative Islam based sharia laws, and both could bring up to six months in prison and lashes. None were charged with homosexual acts, a much more serious charge under Saudi law, Reyes said. The men have all been released to their employers while formal charges are drawn up, he added."

The Philipine Star adds the men face up to 50-60 lashes for "imitating women" and "display of homosexuality."

Two similar cases happened last year summer.

Thanks NATHAN JAMES!

Muslim Extremist Cleric: All Gays Should Be Stoned to Death

Anjem Choudar launches a new hate attack on gays. The extremist and incendiary British Islamic cleric who calls for Sharia law in the United Kingdom says that means "all" homosexuals would be condemned. According to the Daily Mail:

[Choudary] said such a regime was the only way to fix the country's ills. Under it, adulterers and homosexuals would be killed by stoning. Asked if that would include anybody - even a Cabinet minister such as Business Secretary Lord Mandelson - Choudary responded with an astonishing diatribe.

He said: 'If a man likes another man, it can happen, but if you go on to fulfil your desire, if it is proved, then there is a punishment to follow. You don't stone to death unless there are four eyewitnesses. It is a very stringent procedure.

'There are some people who are attracted to donkeys but that does not mean it is right.'

The hateful cleric says not all gays would be killed. After being educated about the "evils" of homosexuality, they would only be stoned if they still confessed to a same-sex relationship or having same-sex desires. How very generous of him.

Choudary's extremism may seem like a joke in the West but the consequences are real. In recent months, suspected gays have been condemned in Nigeria, and, executed in Islamic fundamentalist nations such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Uganda's leading Islamic cleric has also called for exiling and/or executing gays.

Choudary's hate-filled dogma was profiled last year by Christiane Amanpour on CNN.

All Homosexuals Should Be Stoned to Death [Mail]

Report: Al-Qaeda Using Male Rape to Intimidate Suicide Bombers

The terrorist masterminds behind Al-Qaeda are reportedly raping young men to coerce them into becoming suicide bombers. The intense social stigma, fear of being exposure, and, the fear of more penetration leaves the young Muslim men prepared to die.

The Sun reports the devastating charges:

The warped new tactic was revealed by a reformed Algerian militant. Abu Baçir El Assimi said: “The sexual act on young recruits aged between 16 to 19 was a means to urge them to commit suicide operations.”

A 22-year-old had suffered sexual injuries before being shot dead on a suicide mission in Tademaït, Algeria, three weeks ago. Samples taken from his body are being analysed in a bid to identify his torturer.

Ennahar Online additionally reports "a large tear in the anus" of the 22-year-old Algerian terrorist, which apparently confirms the sexual abuse.

Rape and homosexual acts are punishable by death under Sharia law. Fundamentalist Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have publicly executed men accused of being homosexual, or, accused of engaging in sexual relations with other men.

The Al-Qaeda terrorist movement has been in existence since the late 1990s. Terrorist cells operating in the United States, Western Europe and have been responsible for a number of horrific and spectacular suicide attacks, most notably the attacks on New York and Washington DC on September 11th 2001. Al-Qaeda is currently linked to the insurgency in Algeria.

US Refuses to Sign United Nations Gay Rights Resolution

Liberty and freedom for all—just not the gays. The United States becomes the lone major western nation to refuse to sign an historic United Nations declaration that affirms gay rights and seeks to decriminalize homosexuality.

The unprecedented declaration won the support of 66 countries in the United Nations General Assembly. The United States—represented by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, seen above—"refused to support the non-binding measure, as did Russia, China, the Roman Catholic Church and members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The Holy See’s observer mission issued a statement saying that the declaration “challenges existing human rights norms."

The declaration, sponsored by France with broad support in Europe and Latin America, condemned human rights violations based on homophobia, saying such measures run counter to the universal declaration of human rights.

“How can we tolerate the fact that people are stoned, hanged, decapitated and tortured only because of their sexual orientation?” said Rama Yade, the French state secretary for human rights, noting that homosexuality is banned in nearly 80 countries and subject to the death penalty in at least six.

The United States delegation could not sign the declaration for a very simple reason: There are currently no federal protections for gays, lesbians and transgenders. Same sex marriage is legal only in two states, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In more than half of the states, employers and landlords are free to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Add this to the growing list of reasons why we need to pass ENDA and federal hate crime protections.

Our neighbors to the north and south—Canada and Mexico—signed this declaration. It's a sad day when the world's largest democracy chooses sides with rabidly, anti-gay human rights violators—such as Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia—who claimed the resolution threatened to "normalize" pedophilia and other "deplorable acts. Shameful

In a First, Gay Rights are Pressed at UN [NYT]
US Faces Criticism Over Refusal to Sign [P1Q]

News: "Noah", Gay MBAs, Brian White

· The cast of Noah's Arc covers the latest Next. Patrik-Ian Polk asks, "Why aren’t these guys on the cover of Genre and Instinct and Out? I was told by the publisher of one of the national magazines that when they put black faces on their cover they don’t sell."

· Washington state considers banning state-funded sex-change operations.

· Study: Ketamine, the tranquilizer and popular club drug, can provide "immediate and long-lasting relief from depression." But no word yet what to do about that pesky K-hole ...

But has it been confirmed? Super flawless actor Brian White has a new "girlfriend": Miss California. They make a lovely couple, no?

· Gay MBAs wanted. Business Week reports financial service firms—such as Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase—are aggressively recruiting gay professionals.

· Saudi Arabia is finally confronting its hidden HIV/AIDS problem. After many years of denial, the Ministry of Health "announced that more than 10,000 people in Saudi Arabia were HIV-positive or had AIDS." Many experts think the numbers are higher. Saudi citizens enjoy free medical care and expensive anti-retroviral drugs without charge,but, "more than three-quarters of the reported HIV cases are of foreign residents. Foreigners living here found to be HIV-positive are typically imprisoned and then deported." Gays report living in "constant fear of being found out and attacked."