The newspaper's news-you-can-use piece was widely mocked as it reverberated across the world on Monday, but it also sparked an outcry among LGBT advocates and set off another ripple of fear among Malaysians who don't happen to be straight.

In Malaysia, a person can be sent to jail for up to 20 years for being gay thanks to a colonial-era law. And the country's outsize heterosexual antipathy toward gay people has sparked reactions that run the gamut from hilarious to horrifying.

Movie chains in the country, for example, halted the release of "Beauty and the Beast" because of a "gay moment" in the film, The Associated Press reported. Government censors had already approved the movie after the moment involving Disney's first openly gay character was cut.

The movie flap came years after Malaysian censors revised restrictions on religious and sexual content in movies but, the AP said, still promoted a negative view of LGBT people. The new rules "allowed depiction of gay characters, but only if they show repentance or are portrayed in a negative light."

In June, the Malaysian Health Ministry sponsored a contest that offered up to $US1000 to youths who came up with videos about "preventing" homosexuality, the BBC reported.