In a recent article a leading Egyptian human rights activist declared that the media had become obsessed with a series of summer season sex scandals. First, there was the "gay disco" on the Nile, then the businessman with the secret stash of 17 wives and then the videotapes of the coptic priest abusing female members of his congregation within the sacrocant grounds of a monasthe sacrocant grounds of a monastery. The activist blamed the media frenzy on the state's attempt to divert attention from high unemployment and the country's economic malaise. As if to underline his conspiratorial allegations, hours after putting down his pen he was sacked by the Egyptian Organization of Human Rights (EOHR). A cowardly act by an organization which has singularly failed to live up to its' name. In truth though the witch-hunt is as much due to paronoia as to conspiracy. If I might be allowed to make an historical digression it is as if the ghost of McCarthy has returned after 50 years, but to another land. In the early 1950s the American media was obsessed with uncovering perverts who had allegedly infiltrated every level of society. In a series of government crackdowns and trials, gays, communists and anyone whose views were not as American as apple pie found themselves out of a job and their names listed in the newspapers. Across the Atlantic in Britain police arrests of "homosexuals" (the kindest word the press used) in public parks and toilets drew increasing attention in the press which naturally focused on the social elite. The actor John Gielgud was caught soliciting, an army colonel was caught inflagrante with two youths, a Conservative Member of Parliament was observed eyeing up his neighbours at the public urinals at Picadilly and most sensationally a member of the House of Lords, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, was put on trial for an alleged relationship with a "low-ranking" RAF "airman" [ much was made of the disparity in their social status and of champagne parties etc etc ! ]. What had sparked these witch-hunts ? Both America and Britain were deeply nervous about the Cold War, the ailing Stalin was becoming increasingly bellicose [the Soviet Union had just exploded its' first atomic bomb] and Britain discovered that just at its' weakest moment it was betrayed by two spies (Burgess and Maclean) who fled to Moscow. Scapegoats had to be found and as gays personified effeminacy and weakness they were the obvious choice. What's more the fear of gays was made more credible by the 1953 Kinsey Report on Male Sexuality which revealed that homosexuality was far more prevalent than anyone had ever anticipated. What had been a hidden underestimated community now emerged to take the media spotlight. In Egypt the emergence of gay internet sites and chat rooms seems to have created a comparable situation in that it has accelerated forward the emergence of a community under the cloak of a superficial anonymity which a special State Security Internet Unit began to penetrate about a year ago. Substitute then the internet for the Kinsey report, Sharon for Stalin, the Islamic Brotherhood for communism, Israel for the Soviet Union, the recent Arab Israeli spy case for the defection of Burgess and Maclean and one can see why the Egyptian state has suddenly become paranoid and why the State Security has taken such a prominent role in those investigations. Yet fifty years have passed since McCarthy. Psychiatry no longer views homosexuality as a weakness, let alone an illness, not even in China - a country so infamous for its' human rights record. No wonder then that the Government should be embarassed as it discovers that it has exposed itself to international ridicule and scorn. They can not pretend that the 52 men detained are anything but scapegoats. A truth which must be as uncomfortable as it is embarassing. They can blame brave journalists like the activist mentioned above, but the protests, both domestic and international, will only get more vocal. Latest news 22 May 2012: Cairo psychiatrist claims he can "cure" 70 to 75 per cent of gay teenagers.