BAGUIO CITY – The police decided to end Gay Pride Month here by raiding the new gay bar in town.

Twenty-three “macho dancers” working at the Coco Banana along Naguilian Road here were arrested Friday night but were later released.

Supt. Villamor Bumanglag, Baguio police director, said they raided Coco Banana after receiving tips from “intelligence sources” that lewd shows were being performed there. Police, however, failed to witness the show when the raid was conducted, reports said.

But the police still arrested the dancers for working without permits.

They were later released after the Coco Banana management said their working papers were being processed.

The police, however, again raided the establishment on Sunday after the police discovered that the bar has no business permit.

The bar, however, was allowed to operate after its management assured the police that the permit is being processed. The bar started operating only last month.

But gay rights activists in the city said the police raid on the establishment was “uncalled for.”

Dane Ducayag, founding member of the Gays and Lesbians for the Immediate Tsugi of Erap (Galit–Erap), said the raid was the police’s way of harassing the owners of the club.

“Why do the police allow (the operations of) girlie bars when they cannot allow any gay bar to operate?” Ducayag told the INQUIRER.

Ducayag, however, believed that the raid that was timed on the eve of the Gay Pride parade and was not meant to spoil the celebration. The parade was held on Saturday and it culminated the Gay Pride month celebrated yearly in June.

“The raid was purely coincidental. The police may have no knowledge what Gay Pride is. In fact not even the other gays in Baguio do not know that it is their day to celebrate because they were not informed about it,” he said.

Members of the Lesbians for National Democracy (Lesbond), a group of gays and lesbians based here, said if the police could prove that the gay bar has been staging lewd shows and exploiting minors, then the police should go after its operators.

“But we just hope that the police raided the bar not for the oppression and repression of gays. It was also ironic that an incident like this happened during the gay pride month,” said Julie Palaganas, Lesbond spokesperson.

“We are against all forms of `commodification,’ but if the raid showed that it was a case of extortion and homophobia, then we condemn it,” she said.

Lesbond said gay bars are “free spaces” for gay men and even women where they can express themselves and have clean fun.

“The police should note that there are gay bars that we can consider as offering wholesome entertainment,” Palaganas said.

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