Confronted with international outrage over the public flogging of gay men, the Indonesian province of Aceh has moved the floggings indoors. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Joko Widodo
Commentary: Indonesian police fuel anti-LGBT hysteria
Indonesia’s national police force should immediately investigate recent raids by local law enforcement on gatherings of gay men, Human Rights Watch said [June 2] in a letter to national police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian. Indonesia’s police leadership should commit to ending the targeting of sexual minorities and uphold their obligation to protect everyone’s basic rights … Continue reading
Mike Pence praises anti-LGBT Indonesia as modern Islamic model
While human rights activists criticize Indonesia’s failure to curb anti-LGBT zealots and roll back homophobic fundamentalist Islamic laws, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence praised Indonesia as a model of “modern Islam” that other Muslim-majority countries should follow. Continue reading
Indonesia keeps persecuting its LGBT citizens
Indonesia is continuing to persecute LGBTI people, Human Rights Watch reports. At a time when two men have been jailed on homosexuality charges, Indonesia President Joko Widodo missed an opportunity to roll back repressive sharia laws. Continue reading
Indonesian police push anti-LGBT militant Islamic agenda
Indonesian police are working with militant Islamists to curtail the human rights of LGBT Indonesians, Human Rights Watch says. In a news dispatch, HRW reported: Continue reading
Often-tolerant Indonesia turns against LGBTI people
Indonesia is hot and bothered about sex in general and LGBTI issues in particular. The country’s highest court is deliberating whether all sex outside marriage should be made illegal — the latest push by conservative Islamist organizations seeking religiously based changes in the country’s largely secular legal code. As the Washington Post reported, if the … Continue reading
Indonesian president: Police must defend LGBT citizens
The president of Indonesia spoke out this week against an intensifying anti-LGBT campaign in that country. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo called on police to defend LGBT community members and declared “there should be no discrimination against anyone.” His appeal came after months of increasingly hateful anti-LGBT rhetoric from Indonesian officials and religious leaders. Continue reading
Activists to Indonesian leaders: Stifle anti-LGBT officials
Human Rights Watch is pleading for restraint and tolerance from Indonesian officials in order to protect LGBT citizens of Indonesia from harassment and persecution: Indonesia: Flurry of Anti-Gay Statements by Officials Condemn Bias; Pledge to Protect LGBT Groups Indonesia’s government should defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and publicly condemn … Continue reading
LGBT fear sharia in Indonesia’s Aceh district
Homosexual acts are not a crime in Indonesia’s criminal code but it remains taboo in many religiously conservative parts of the country, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, and particularly in Aceh province where Sharia law prevails. The Reuters news agency reported that LGBT have recently been overcome with fear. Members of the gay rights … Continue reading
