Five Austrian gay groups have filed suit against a right-wing Catholic newspaper that said, "Homosexuals, like rats, are crawling out of their holes, only to be fed lovingly by church people and politicians."

The newspaper, The 13th, also called for "the formation of militias to fight state-supported ... lechery" and said homosexuals should be punished "with whips and bull pizzles."

KYRGYZSTAN LEGALIZES GAY SEX

Kyrgyzstan became the ninth former Soviet republic to legalize gay sex Jan. 1, said Amnesty International.

Article 130 of the new Criminal Code OKs homosexual acts unless they involve "force" or "the threat of force" or "take advantage of the weakness of the victim."

The other former Soviet republics that have decriminalized homosexuality are Belarus, Estonia, Kazakstan, Moldova, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine.

In Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, penal-code reform is underway that may lead to legalization of gay sex. Tajikistan is still using the old Soviet criminal code. Uzbekistan instituted a new penal code and kept the Soviet ban. Observers have been unable to determine the legal status of homosexuality under Turkmenistan's new penal code.

GAY PURGE IN QATAR

Qatar is in the process of deporting all foreign homosexuals, says the Philippine Embassy.

The embassy recommended that no more gay workers be sent to the Persian Gulf nation, where 80,000 Filipinos work in the oil refining, production and service sectors.

One overseas worker, who asked not to be identified, told a Filipino newspaper that foreigners patronizing barber shops are being hauled off by police for rectal exams to determine if they've had anal sex.