VIENTIANE, 6 April 2009 (PlusNews) - Vientiane - In the car park of a local bar in Vientiane, capital of Laos, Nakhornphet Pasomsouk is watching his team of peer educators interact with young men arriving to have a drink with their friends on a Friday night.
Most men who have sex with men in Laos don't think of themselves as gay
"Many Lao men will try sex with another man at least once in their lifetime," said Pasomsouk, assistant project officer at the Men Having Sex with Men peer-education programme of the Burnet Institute, an Australian medical research facility. "Many of them might just be trying it to see what it's like and never do it again; others might do it again. There is not just one category of men having sex with men."
The peer educators approach customers heading for the bar, have a quiet chat, and give them a brochure and occasionally a condom before the young men move on for their evening's entertainment.
It is part of an outreach project that runs three times per month and is designed to get safe-sex messages to "hidden" men who have sex with men (MSM). "Unlike transsexuals or openly gay men, hidden MSM can be homosexual, bisexual or straight," said Anan Bouapha, former MSM project coordinator with the Burnet Institute. "They might not want to be identified as MSM but we need to get the safe-sex message to them, no matter how difficult this is."
Hidden MSM are probably the largest group of men having sex with men in Laos but are difficult to identify in HIV prevention and surveillance and are not reached by other MSM programmes in the country.
Making contact with Laos’ MSM, and particularly hidden MSM, is key to this small Southeast Asian country’s fight against HIV/AIDS. HIV prevalence in the general population is a low 0.1 percent, but among MSM it is 5.6 percent, according to a 2007 study by the Burnet Institute, done in conjunction with the Ministry of Health.
This figure represents a worrying trend in a country whose neighbours - Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam - already have documented HIV epidemics in their MSM communities.
The study also surveyed risk behaviours among MSM and found that while the vast majority of respondents knew unprotected anal sex was high-risk, less than a quarter used condoms with non-regular partners, and more than half also reported having sex with women.
A lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among hidden MSM, particularly those who have female partners, could potentially lead to an epidemic in the broader community, something which the country has so far been able to avoid.
Targeting people who don't want to be targeted
Rather than targeting known gay and transvestite haunts or using drop-in centres, teams from the Burnet Institute visit places where most young adults like to hang out – bars, video shops, saunas.
"We always seek the owner's permission and they're really supportive. Many even suggest we come into their shops to talk to customers, but that's not the approach we like to take. How would you feel if someone sat down next to you and started talking about STIs [sexually transmitted infections] while you were having a drink?" said Pasomsouk, explaining why the peer educators chat to men in parking areas.
According to Bouapha, the peer educators are trained in the prevention of HIV and other STIs, as well as how to approach MSM so they feel comfortable and able to ask questions.
The approach appears to work. Sonepasith, one of the peer educators at the car park, has just been in deep discussion with a man in his early twenties. "He said he's not gay but has had sex with two men," Sonepasith told IRIN/PlusNews after the man had left.
"Now he's worried he's got an STI. I explained he needs to have safe sex from now on, told him what that means, gave him the clinic hotline number, six condoms and the brochure, which has safe sex information and all the clinic details."
Interventions like those of the Burnet Institute may not be enough to stem an HIV/AIDS epidemic in Laos, where prevention, care and treatment programmes for MSM have yet to be rolled out across the country.
Laos is one of Southeast Asia's poorest nations, but considerably more investment is needed if it is to avoid the infection levels of its neighbours.
Social issues like this seems to be connected with democracy and likely resulted to the human's natural tendency to explore. Im not saying the these things do not happen in less democratic country. But it seems that the more the country and its people open up to the rest of the world and the more it embraces the democratic system, the more it becomes tolerant and permissive. In efffect, people tend to unchain their inhibitions, to dare to explore and try new things; sometimes even those which are often considered as taboo in a previously conservative society. This attitude on one end sometimes lead to great discoveries, and on the other end may put individuals in very risky situations.
Dare to try?!?! When it comes to sex, be wise enough because there are risks involve. Make sure you are protected if you can't help it... or NEVER TRY AT ALL!
When Communism came to China, everyone addressed everyone else as 'Comrade' instead of Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ladies & Gentlemen/etc...but 'Comrade' in Chinese (tong2 zhi4) also has the double meaning of 'gay partner' ;)
When Communism came to China, everyone addressed everyone else as 'Comrade' instead of Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ladies & Gentlemen/etc...but 'Comrade' in Chinese (tong2 zhi4) also has the double meaning of 'gay partner' ;)
Bro, I didnt know that tongzhi 's mean is Gay Partner, I guess you went to many Gay Bars in Guangzhou, beijing or even in Chengdu haha,
i know that tong2 zhi4 has that slang meaning cos i'm a Chinese from another Asian country (not China) where most of the Chinese keep in touch with the current affairs & entertainment news in China. haven't had the chance to visit any gay bars cos i'm a girl :)
i know that tong2 zhi4 has that slang meaning cos i'm a Chinese from another Asian country (not China) where most of the Chinese keep in touch with the current affairs & entertainment news in China. haven't had the chance to visit any gay bars cos i'm a girl :)
ok well! in fact, girl can visit the gay bar, it doesn't matter
Two men having sex is gay. If a guy get a sexual arousal by another guy than he is gay. They might be bi-sexual or just so perverted they will even have sex with animal because of their hedonistic sexual behavior.
ha. some guys are wishy-washy. you can not be straight and like enjoy having sex with other males at the same time, that is bi-sexual, yah? straight is straight. haha.
i heard some local complains, a Man had sex with a buffalo , I still can't believe that till today, Have you guys heard about it?
You better believe because its happening. In fact in the US there has even been a law that bans such hideous act. Most of the people who engage in such sexual act are often found to be psychologically or mentally disturbed. Can happen to both men and women.
Please read article below:
Alaska and Florida consider bans on bestiality
Recent cases prompt states to consider outlawing sex with animals
AP,updated 2:30 p.m. ET March 21, 2009
JUNEAU, Alaska - It's a subject that can cause nervous snickering, a little uneasiness and even a few bad jokes.
But many in the southeast Alaska community of Klawock, population 800, weren't laughing last April after a 26-year-old registered sex offender was accused of molesting a local family's pet dog.
The man was spotted by a local woman coaxing the Labrador retriever into the woods near a ball field. There he allegedly tied it to a tree, taped its muzzle shut with duct tape and had sex with it, witnesses told police at the time.
The man had been twice convicted of raping a young boy and more recently had served probation for assault after lunging at a child. While the incident with the dog was reported to the police, Klawock Mayor Don Marvin said nothing happened for two days while fearful parents escorted their children home from school.
"When this incident happened, we had a community that was scared," Marvin said.
Because Alaska has no law against such an attack, Ketchikan District Attorney James Scott eventually charged the man with two counts of criminal mischief, which was later changed to a theft charge.
In requesting a $10,000 bail, Scott told the court that the state was concerned that if a small child had been available and unattended that day, "the small child would have been found taped (and) tied in the woods."
Looking for ways to prosecute Shocked by that and other similar cases of involving humans having sex with animals, lawmakers in Florida and Alaska are considering bans on bestiality. They are among 15 states where the practice is not explicitly illegal.
Alaska's House Judiciary Committee on Friday heard testimony on a measure that would expand the state's animal cruelty law to include sexual conduct. It would make the practice a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
In Florida, a bill that would make sex with animals punishable by up to five years in prison has been unanimously approved by two Senate committees and has two other committee stops before reaching the full chamber.
Florida Sen. Nan Rich, a Democrat, has a thick folder in her office containing news clippings of cases around the state of people having sex with animals. While the act is sickening enough, she says research has shown that people who molest animals are likely to rape or molest people.
"There's quite a number of cases," said Rich, holding up an article. "This one is, unfortunately, a man having sex with his guide dog. This is about a goat's death, a female goat in Walton County that had been sexually assaulted. Unfortunately it's not an isolated incident. We need a mechanism to prosecute."
Cases, bans and protections The Walton County case in 2006 helped bring the problem to light. There were at least four goat rapes in Mossy Head, including one that resulted in the animal dying. Instead of being charged with a sex act, a suspect was charged with stealing two goats, said Dee Thompson, the director of Panhandle Animal Welfare Society.
Authorities in Tallahassee, Florida, also struggled in 2005 to find charges that would fit against a blind man accused of having sex with his guide dog. The man was initially charged with felony animal cruelty, but prosecutors dropped that charge and recharged him with "breach of the peace."
In Tennessee, bestiality was banned in 2007. Arizona did so in 2006 after a Mesa deputy fire chief was accused of bestial acts with his next-door neighbor's lamb. Washington state also banned sex with animals in 2006, after a man died of a perforated colon from having sex with a horse on a farm in rural King County.
In Alaska, Lynn's measure is backed by the Department of Corrections, the Alaska Farm Bureau, the Humane Society of the United States and the Alaska Peace Officers Association.
Rachel Dzuiba, a veterinarian at the Gastineau Humane Society in Juneau, said it would not only protect animals but also protect the public against a cycle of abuse and violence.
"The act of forcing a living creature to engage in a sexual activity without the ability of consent cannot simply be viewed as a personal choice — no more than forcing a child or an impaired adult would be," Dzuiba told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing Friday.
Complaints about sexual deviancy The society's executive director, Chava Lee, said she has received several complaints at the Juneau animal shelter about sexual deviancy against animals.
"In each case that has come to my attention, coercion, abuse, threat of physical harm or terrorizing a human during the practice of a sexual assault on an animal was present," Lee said.
According to the national Humane Society, several studies highlight the link between the sexual assault of animals and sex crimes against humans, including:
FBI research on the backgrounds of serial sexual homicide perpetrators that uncovered high rates of sexual assault of animals;
A report in the Journal of Forensic Psychiatry that said twenty percent of children who sexually abuse other children also have histories of sexually abusing animals; and
A Utah State University study showing 37 percent of sexually violent juvenile offenders have a history of animal sexual assault.
The committee also heard testimony from Klawock Chief of Police Cullen Fowler who said the dog that had been allegedly assaulted did not require veterinary care but appeared to have suffered.
Fowler said the pressure of the taped muzzle cause blood vessels to burst in its eyes and the dog was sensitive to the touch, jumpy and afraid for a long time after the incident.
I think your trying to say a woman can be gay also right?
Actually only men can be gay.
We consider women who sleep with men to be normal, and I consider a woman sleeping with another woman to also be normal. Why? Well I just put myself in the place of a woman. If I were a woman still there's no way I'd ever sleep with some guy. Yuck!
IF LOOK BACKWARD IN A LONG HISTORY HOW TO CHANGE FROM SINGLE CELL TO FORM HUMAN KIND HOW EARY HUMAN KIND BEHAVIOR COMPARE WITH RECENT HUMAN KIND BEHAVIOR
SAME SEX JUST ANOTHER IMPOETANCE STEP TO CHANGE FORM BEHAVIOR IN HUMAN KIND
IT"S JUST TO BEGIN AND TAKE A LONG TIME TO OVERCOME OPPOSITE SEX
AND ANOTHER LONGTIME IMPORTANCE STEP TO CHANGE FROM SAME SEX TO NEED NO SEX, AND TAKE A LONG TIME WILL END ERA OF HUMAN KIND ON EARTH.
THIS"S UNIVERSE TO CREATED AND MADE PERIOD OF TIME AND CODITION ALREADY.