Authorities in Malaysia have shut down a hotel that was accused of promoting itself as a gay friendly accommodation provider.
The 37 room hotel in Meleka state was raised just before 11am on 13th January by the country’s religious affairs department and the local council authority.
Authorities said they were acting on information that the regions Islamic religious laws were being broken with incidents of “sodomy, attempted sodomy and other unnatural sexual practices” taking place at the hotel.
When authorities arrived at the venue however only one room appeared to have been occupied and the rest were empty.
The hotel however has been ordered to stay closed until operators give an explanation to why they had described the venue as as being “gay friendly” on their website.
Homosexual sex is illegal in Malaysia, but being being gay itself is not punishable. The section of law that relates to homosexuality in section 377A which inherited from the country’s time as a British colony.
Those caught participating in same-sex sexual activity can face fines, caning and up to 20 years in prison. There are also penalties for lesbian activity. Islamic citizens may also be sent to separate Islamic courts for additional penalties. Malaysian LGBTIQA+ people often face discrimination and have few legal protections.
Malaysia has recently seen a ramping up of raids on events that authorities deem to be related to the gay community, and earlier this week a group of thirteen community organisations released a statement highlighting how the approach is impacting important work in health prevention.
This week there has been local outrage over a HIV prevention camping event taking placing in the state of Selangor. Last year authorities raided what they described as a ‘secret gay house party’ in the state of Kelentan only to discover it was a health department sanction HIV outreach event.
Over 200 people were recently arrested at a gym and sauna in Jakarta, with police describing it as an underground gay meeting spot. When those arrested fronted court the judge threw out every case.
