Vietnamese police bust gay sauna party
HANOI - Thirty homosexual men have been arrested during a raid by police on a fitness centre in Vietnam's southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh city, officials said on Thursday.
The men, including the centre director, Le Van Yen, 29, were arrested on Sunday after being caught having sex in the centre's sauna and private massage parlours, a policeman from Go Vap district said.
The centre, which opened earlier this year, has been popular among the city's gay community with a reasonable entrance fee of only about three dollars, the state-owned Thanh Nien (Young People) daily said.
During weekends, hundreds of clients visited the facility, it added.
Attitudes in Vietnam towards same-sex relationships have relaxed somewhat over the last few years but many in this deeply traditional society still consider it a taboo subject.
Although not officially outlawed, authorities in the communist-ruled country consider homosexuality a social evil.
Agence France Presse - November 7, 2002
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