Typically, this sort of misguided police harassment backfires, generating huge amounts of publicity among Vietnamese and visitors who might not have otherwise known that all sorts of places exist for gay men to socialize together in Ho Chi Minh City.

Shamefully, police seem to ignore criminals who prey on gays, such as the karaoke extortion scams in Hanoi which have been growing progressively violent.

See a related press release from the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center