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Malaysian state-run newspaper advises against gay sex on health grounds (and not just because it carries the death penalty)
Malaysia
Doctor says gay sex causes swine flu
A prominent Malaysian doctor has claimed that gay sex and masturbation increase the body's susceptibility to the H1N1 virus, better known as swine flu. An article in the state-run newspaper Bernama describes Dr VM Palaniappan as an eminent practitioner of complementary therapy, and presents his advice in an approving tone.
Dr Palaniappan, a former associate professor of ecology at Universiti Malaya, said that homosexual activities and masturbation caused the body to develop friction heat, which in turn produced acid and made the body hyperacidised. "Thus, the body becomes an easy target for H1N1," he said, although reassuringly he emphasized that "normal sexual union" between members of the opposite sex was absolutely safe.
Gays and lesbians have been banned from appearing in state-controlled media in Malaysia, and sodomy is illegal throughout the country, punishable by caning or prison terms of 20 years, but in two of its states homosexual acts between consenting adults carry the death penalty.
