Gay rights advocates are denouncing Malaysian authorities who have send 66 Muslim schoolboys to a four-day masculinity camp, after teachers identified them as effeminate. The teenagers received counselling to discourage them from being gay, it is reported. Terengganu state's Education Director Razali Daud told AP the boys, aged between 13 and 17, will undergo religious and motivational classes and physical guidance. "[The camp is meant] to guide them back to the right path in life before they reach a point of no return", Razali said. "Such effeminate behaviour is unnatural and will affect their studies and their future." Pang Khee Teik, the co-founder of a Malaysian sexual rights awareness group, called the camp "outrageous". "If we don't do anything to stop the rot of homophobia ... I worry it may get worse," he said. Gay sex remains illegal in Malaysia and is punishable by 20 years in prison, but the law is seldom and selectively enforced.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 20th April 2011 - 1:40pm