Thai Gays Escape Tsunami Terror

Organisers of Phuket's annual gay pride festival revealed this week that just two gay businesses were "hard hit' by the recent tsunami, with most of the resort's main gay enclave miraculously escaping major destruction and death.

According to Metro Weekly, many of the tourists and workers at the Paradise Complex on Patong Beach escaped because they were sleeping late after partying the night before, undermining recent suggestions by fundamental Muslim preachers that the victims brought disaster on themselves.

"We know that at these resorts, which unfortunately exist in Islamic and other countries in South Asia, and especially at Christmas, fornication and sexual perversion of all kinds are rampant," Saudi Professor Sheik Fawzan Fawzan said on Saudi TV last week.

"I say this (the tsunami) is a great sign and punishment on which Muslims should reflect," he urged. "We must fight fornication (and) homosexuality," he added.

Salman al-Farizi, a leader from the Indonesian radical Muslim group Laskar Mujahadin, was equally uncompromising this week, declaring "it is crucial that the survivors, and indeed all Muslims, understand that this was a warning from Allah. If they don't become true Muslims then they will be struck down," he warned (The Guardian).

(Phuket Gay Festival: The official new date is 7-10 April. Please understand that we do not have problems here in this area from the tsunami. It's perfectly safe here but we do this in respect for all those who died and in respect for Thai traditions . . .')
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