A GAY gang that allegedly raped victims lured on the internet, drugged them and infected them with the AIDS virus has shocked the Netherlands and raised questions over its liberal sex culture.

A date rape drug known as “Easy Lay” and ecstasy were allegedly involved.

Health Minister Ab Klink called the case “horrible”, as the press splashed the news across its front pages today.

The matter came to light yesterday, when police said they had arrested three men two weeks ago after four victims, men aged 25 to 50, accused them of rape and premeditated bodily harm.

Ronald Zwarter, the police chief in the northern town of Groningen, where the alleged crimes took place, said two of those arrested, a couple aged 48 and 33, had confessed.

“Their stated motive was that it excited them - and also that, the more HIV-infected people there were, the better their chances of unprotected sex,” he said.

“They considered unprotected relations to be ‘pure’.”

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ROANOKE, Va. — Samuel Alexander Garrison III, who defended President Richard Nixon in impeachment hearings in 1974 and later became a gay activist, has died. He was 65. Garrison died Sunday after a long battle with leukemia, said Mark Harris, his partner of 17 years.

Garrison was the deputy minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee and later also was the chief Republican counsel.

“Sam realized what a high honor it was,” Harris said. “He really enjoyed doing that. He said it was fun hearing his name on TV and seeing his name in magazines.”

Following Watergate, Garrison returned to Roanoke to practice law. He was disbarred and served four months in prison for embezzling $46,000 from a bankruptcy account in 1980. The Virginia Supreme Court reinstated his law license in 1993.

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eHarmony was served with a lawsuit today for refusing to offer its service to gays, lesbians and bisexuals, reports Reuters, a topic made salient in recent months in part because of a competitive marketing campaign.

eHarmony’s policy was hardly news to the gay community, but a current nationwide print and television campaign, conducted by new dating site Chemistry.com, relied heavily on imagery of gays rejected by eHarmony (via Adrants).

Chemistry.com is owned by Match.com.

The discrimination suit was filed at the LA Superior Court on behalf of Linda Carlson, but lawyers are seeking to convert it into a class action on behalf of any gays and lesbians who may have been excluded from the service.

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The Israeli Government has been brought to the brink of collapse by a string of criminal investigations, sex scandals and a failed war in Lebanon.

Next week it will face its most unusual challenge yet: a vote of no confidence over a controversial advertising campaign aimed at bringing gay tourists to the Holy Land.

Dozens of MPs have vowed to bring down the Government over the campaign, saying that it offends Israeli religious sensibilities. Published on the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth, the largest-circulation Israeli daily, the adverts feature affectionate gay couples at some of the most famous tourist sites.

One shows two young men in kippahs about to kiss near Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Another shows a gay couple embracing on a camel. Another features a group of men smeared in mud and poised to take a dip in the Dead Sea.

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>(Riga) Members of a broad spectrum of groups on the far right in Latvia staged a noisy demonstration in front of the Parliament on Wednesday demanding that lawmakers ban a gay pride parade scheduled for June 3.

>The groups included skinheads, extreme nationalists, neo-Nazis and churchgoers.

>More than 100 protestors shouted homophobic slogans and handed out T-shirts to passersby bearing anti-gay messages.

>It is the latest in ongoing battles between liberals and conservatives in Latvia.

>Last year the capital city of Riga refused to grant a parade permit citing security reasons following a recommendation from Latvian Interior Minister Dzintars Jaundzeikars.

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MELBOURNE, Australia — A gay bar has won the right to turn away heterosexuals and even lesbians to provide a non-threatening atmosphere for the men partying inside.

A tribunal in Australia’s southern Victoria state granted Melbourne’s Peel Hotel an exemption to equal rights laws, saying it was needed to prevent “sexually based insults and violence” aimed at the pub’s patrons.

In her findings, the tribunal’s deputy president, Cate McKenzie, said Monday that to allow large numbers of straight men and women and lesbians into the bar could “undermine or destroy” the convivial atmosphere that the Peel Hotel sought to create for gay men.

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Poland’s conservative government took its drive to curb what it sees as homosexual propaganda to the small screen, taking aim at Tinky Winky and the other Teletubbies.

Ewa Sowinska, government-appointed children rights watchdog, told a local magazine published on Monday she was concerned the popular BBC children’s show promoted homosexuality.

She said she would ask psychologists to advise if this was the case.

In comments reminiscent of criticism by the late US evangelist Jerry Falwell, she was quoted as saying: “I noticed (Tinky Winky) has a lady’s purse, but I didn’t realize he’s a boy.”

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A GAY bar run by a Scottish hotelier has won the right to ban heterosexuals.

In what is believed to be a first for Australia, a tribunal has ruled that Melbourne’s Peel Hotel can exclude people based on their sexuality. The move is intended to stop heterosexuals from insulting and intimidating the venue’s regular customers.

Tom McFeely, the hotel’s owner, who emigrated to Australia from Scotland 17 years ago because of homophobia, said the ruling was necessary to provide gay men with a non-threatening atmosphere.

“We’ve always welcomed everyone at the Peel,” he said. “But when it got to the stage where a gay person could feel intimidated or unsafe at a gay venue, that’s when I felt I had to take action. If I can limit the number of heterosexuals entering the Peel, then that helps me keep the safe balance.”

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Following the announcement that openly gay bishop Gene Robinson would not be invited to attend an important conference of Anglican bishops next year, the Episcopal bishop of California, has declared his support for Bishop Robinson.

“I will be seeking to learn how I can best be in solidarity with Bishop Robinson, through prayerful action,” says the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Episcopal bishop of California. “The tactic of isolation and exile being employed against Bishop Robinson is retrogressive behavior that moves us towards a past from which Christ is always seeking to redeem us. I ask the people of the Diocese of California to pray with me about our common life with all of God’s people and the earth.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury convenes the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of all of the bishops of the Anglican Communion, once every ten years.

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