'We live here': fears tourist tweets on gay liftyle may backfire on Bali's LGBT muny | Bali | The Guardian

Contents:

• IT’S NOT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY INDONIA, BUT POLICE ARE CRACKG DOWN ANYWAY
• HOW TO SAY GAY INDONIAN
• 77 LASH FOR A GAY COUPLE INDONIA
• 'WE LIVE HERE': FEARS TOURIST TWEETS ON GAY LIFTYLE MAY BACKFIRE ON BALI'S LGBT MUNY
• THE BEST INDONIA GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS INDONIA
• GAY INDONIA
• GAY DATG INDONIA
• INTERVIEW WH GAY COUPLE IS DELETED AFTER BACKLASH INDONIA

IT’S NOT ILLEGAL TO BE GAY INDONIA, BUT POLICE ARE CRACKG DOWN ANYWAY

JAKARTA, Indonia — In Indonia, the world's largt Mlim-majory natn, homosexualy is legal and the state largely stays out of issu of private moraly.

But as nservative relig groups bee more proment polil life here, police are creasgly fdg other ways to crack down on LGBT weekend they arrted 58 Indonians and foreigners at a Jakarta sna popular wh gay men, allegedly for vlatg the untry's pornography laws. In May, two men were publicly ned for havg even more liberal ci like Jakarta, where gay clubs and queer advocy groups operate openly, the spate of arrts has had a chillg effect on the LGBT muny. Muny, as gay marriage is illegal Indonia.

HOW TO SAY GAY INDONIAN

Most Indonians held fairly relaxed views about homosexualy, which was never officially recent years, nservative Islam has gaed ground the untry, and now some fear s fluence is growg, even as s ranks rema a mory Parliament.

“But gay and lbian Indonians, who, of urse, are upl and they n’t be married, they are pletely exposed. ”Police have prevly arrted dozens of gay men for vlatg an anti-pornography law, but now, all gay upl who live together are subject to possible ph for the overhl was backed by Vice Print Ma’f Am, an Islamic cleric and the former chair of the Indonian Ulema Council, the untry’s top body for Islamic scholars, acrdg to two people who spoke on the ndn of anonymy bee they were not thorized to disclose the tails of private nversatns.

77 LASH FOR A GAY COUPLE INDONIA

Ma’f had prevly lled for “stern regulatns” on the sexual activi of gay a reversal, lawmakers on Tuday restated a provisn makg illegal to attack “the honor or digny” of both Indonia’s print and vice print, a le that was stck down by the Constutnal Court 2006. Authori Indonia’s Aceh provce publicly flogged two gay men 77 tim each on Thursday after a vigilante mob raid their apartment November, allegedly ught them havg sex, and hand them over to the police. The flogggs are part of a longstandg pattern of targeted abe by Acehne thori agast lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people.

In 2012, then-Banda Aceh puty mayor Illiza Saadudd announced a “special team” to make the public more aware of the “threat of LGBT, " postg an image of herself on Instagram holdg a handgun and vowg to flh gays out of Aceh. Her scriptn of the island as a welg place for LGBT travellers was among the ments they, a Hdu-majory island and a tourist statn that attracts gay travellers, is nsired more open-md than other areas of Indonia, where discrimatn agast LGBT people is rife.

'WE LIVE HERE': FEARS TOURIST TWEETS ON GAY LIFTYLE MAY BACKFIRE ON BALI'S LGBT MUNY

Photograph: Firdia Lisnawati/APLGBT rints on the island, however, do not enjoy the same privileg as visors, said Arya, a program manager at Gaya Dewata Foundatn, an NGO that provis health and tnal servic for LGBT people. Last year, thori announced they were vtigatg a villa that had marketed self as a statn for gay travellers, wh one official statg at the time that “here Bali we don’t regnise that culture”.

THE BEST INDONIA GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS INDONIA

”Homosexualy is legal Indonia, except Aceh provce, but LGBT people lack legal rights and face wispread prejudice. Exorcism and nversn therapy ntue to be imposed upon people, while the Indonian Psychiatrists Associatn (PDSKJI) classifi homosexualy, bisexualy and transsexualism as mental disorrs that n be cured through proper treatment.

A study by Pew Rearch Center published 2020 found that only 9% of Indonians agreed that homosexualy should be accepted by has nied any wrongdog relatn to her bs activi, statg that she had not ma money Indonian piah Indonia. Although homosexualy is legal most parts of Indonia, is wily believed that the unary state of the Republic of Indonia is anti-lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT), wh ernment officials makg the four-letter acronym a toxic symbol. In another cint, the police Indonia’s pal cy of Jakarta raid the Atlantis gym and sna arrtg about 140 mostly gay or bisexual members.

GAY INDONIA

But the Atlantis was more than a “gay club, ” was also a public health outreach centre—a well-known hub for HIV tn, ttg, and unsellg for mal who have sex wh mal. ” The legislatn would pel gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people to put up wh treatment at the relig-based treatment centr that would be opened across the State. The draft laws impact the LGBT muny specifilly, as gay marriage is not legal Indonia.

Also, dividuals nvicted of a public act of gay sex uld be sentenced to up to 18 months prison which uld extend up to ne years if evince of abe or vio of the act is produced. Disappotgly, most of the polil parti support the proposed legislatn prohibg homosexualy and recent years have seen a rise of hard-le, policized Islam which has moved om the edge to the centre of polics. All members of the gay muny should be able to travel where they want and enjoy the experienc Indonia has to give, but ’s important to be aware of the suatn before travelg.

GAY DATG INDONIA

As stands, same-sex sexual activy is still legal most provc although there is a strong movement to crimalize gay sex and is currently beg discsed ernment. An anti-pornography law that also forbids sex parti and ‘viant sexual acts’ are often over-broadly terpreted and ed to target LGBT people; this is ed as the exce behd the growg number of police raids on meetg pots for the Indonian gay muny.

Islamic anizatns have put a lot of prsure on the ernment to crack down on the gay populatn, and sce 2016 there has been a rise anti-LGBT rhetoric g om policians and public figur, as policians try to e moral issu to w vot.

INTERVIEW WH GAY COUPLE IS DELETED AFTER BACKLASH INDONIA

Tradnally Indonian society, there was a fair amount of tolerance towards gay people, provid they stayed discreet and quiet about their private liv. A lot of the gay scene happened unrground, and gay upl would rarely be publilly livg together or a relatnship.

There have been creasg numbers of police raids and asslts on the gay muny, forcg the closure of gay bars and clubs (outsi of Bali). In 2017 Jakarta’s last remag gay club closed down. Over time, however, as the public discsn around homosexualy has bee more ght and there have been high-profile sndals volvg celebri and homosexual misnduct, the natnal broadstg missn troduced a policy banng programm om portrayg LGBT behavr as ‘normal.