Several employees of the Lucknow, India, AIDS organization Naz Foundation and its affiliated groups were arrested for running gay clubs under the guise of providing HIV services, The Times of India reported July 8.
They were charged with propagating and indulging in unnatural sex, a violation of penal code section 377.
According to the Times, police seized objectionable literature, sex toys, lubricants, videos and membership lists from the organizations' offices, which were then sealed.
Police visited the offices after arresting an alleged call-boy who said he was working for a Naz-affiliated group.
Naz officials told the Times the charges are bogus and that Naz and its affiliates are, indeed, AIDS organizations.
BELARUSSIAN BAR MANAGER KILLED
The manager of the only legal gay bar that ever existed in the Belarussian capital of Minsk, Ivan Sushinsky, was attacked in his apartment July 3 by homophobic thugs and died the next day in a hospital, reported Edvard Tarletsky of the Belarussian Sexual Minorities League Lambda.
Sushinksy, 30, managed the club Oscar until it was closed in February 2000 when the landlord found out it was a gay establishment.
"He had a head injury, there were knife-shape burns on his body, and his hands and legs were tied with adhesive tape," Tarletsky said.
Tarletsky did not provide any additional proof that the killing was anti-gay in nature.