BEIJING : Two men from south China's Guangdong province have
been fined and jailed for organizing a gay prostitution ring, still
a rarity in conservative China, state media reported.
Liu Xianzhi was sentenced to five years and Zhou Deming was given
six years by the People's Court of Yuexiu District in Guangzhou
city, the Xinhua news agency said.
They were also each fined 1,000 yuan (121 dollars).
The court heard that in July 2003 Liu started up a business named
"Dream of Male s" offering sexual services to male clients inside a
flat in collaboration with Jiang Bo, who is still at large.
They advertised and hired a number of youths to service clients,
taking 30 yuan (3.6 dollars) from each prostitute for each client
served.
Acting on a tip-offf, police detained Liu in July last year.
In the meantime, Zhou rented an apartment, also in Guangzhou, to
accommodate a dozen male youths who offered sex.
He was detained in September last year.
The court ruled that both Liu and Zhou disturbed "the good social
order and harmed fine social morality" by running prostitution
rings.
In a society where many homosexuals remain closeted, and are
married and lead straight lives to avoid social ridicule, the
demand for male prostitutes is high.
