Cape Town Confidential - A particularly grisly mass murder of gay sex workers has made front-page news in South Africa. (Reports in this country and elsewhere politely refer to the victims as the employees of a "massage parlor.") It seems that some underworld figures bent on revenge went looking for former employees of Sizzlers, in the Sea Cape part of Cape Town. While some activists are already gearing up the hate-crime protest machine, the better bet is that this was a simple, if brutal, mafia execution. Vital evidence has come from one employee who survived and was able to provide information about the crime. Police are now searching for the possible leader of four men implicated in the massacre, described in Hollywood style as a bleached red head, with a goatee and tattoos of a curled-up snake on his upper left arm, and the words "fast gun" tattooed on his right wrist.

South Africa is unique among the world's nation-states in that its post-apartheid constitution explicitly guarantees equal protection for homosexuals. Considering how conservative the RSA was under white rule, today's South Africa is a case study for a society where legal protections outstrip the social consensus on straight tolerance. Still, the big cities are actively marketed as gay travel destinations. The British-settled coastal city of Cape Town is sometimes called the gay capital of Africa. Despite the connection to organized crime, these murders can't be good news for local gays -- especially seedier but highly profitable businesses like massage parlors -- who thrive on tourist dollars. However, the police appear to have strong leads, so perhaps the case will be quickly closed.