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Thursday, July 11, 2002
M. East wants gay Pinoys out
By Joshua Dancel
GAY overseas Filipino workers based in Bahrain are now the objects of an intensified crackdown ordered by the government against sex workers in the Middle East State and could be deported starting next week.
The ban automatically bans homosexual laborers from working in the Muslim State.
Administrator Wilhelm Soriano of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) said the Bahrain government has already issued closure notices to some 500 beauty salons, massage parlors, flower and tailoring shops.
"Bahraini police suspected these shops and stores provide haven for illicit homosexual activities and prostitution," Soriano said.
These service shops and stores employ about 2,000 gay Filipinos, he said.
Soriano said the Bahrain government would start padlocking these shops and automatically deporting all homosexual OFWs now working in the country.
He said the Philippine Embassy has received numerous requests to make representations before the Bahrain government and provide the workers at least six-months Grace period to give them time to finish their contracts and prepare for their trip home.
"Others have gone to courts seeking to defer the enforcement of the crackdown," he said.
Soriano said embassy officials and welfare officers are now gearing to work out an agreement with the host government as soon as an official notification is sent to the Philippine representatives.
The only set back that Soriano feared once the Bahrain government makes good its threat is the embassy would be deluged with rescue calls from runaway gay laborers.
"I'm expecting 2,000 gay workers to be affected, most likely to be sent home," Soriano said. Joshua Dancel |
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