Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Gay Crackdown Continues in Indonesia Despite Court Ruling

by Krithika Varagur

   JAKARTA, INDONESIA --

   Activists in Indonesia are warily celebrating the Constitutional
   Court's narrow rejection last week of a conservative group's petition
   to ban gay and extramarital sex.

   The surprising 5-4 verdict in the world's largest Muslim-majority
   nation came during a long anti-LGBT crackdown that began in January
   2016. The ruling, while welcomed by the LGBT community, does not end
   their battle for acceptance. The Constitutional Court's decision
   focused more on the fact that it was the wrong venue to consider such a
   ban than on the human rights implications.

   "I am relieved and feel so happy," said Lini Zurlia, a gay rights
   activist in Jakarta after the Constitutional Court's decision. "But I'm
   still worried about the next process at the legislative level," she
   said. Parliament is expected to consider the ban.

   The same day the Constitutional Court ruled, a North Jakarta court
   sentenced eight gay men to more than two years in prison for taking
   part in a gay sex party at a sauna, which was recently shut down on the
   grounds it was the site of sex work. Analysts say the sentences are
   further evidence of how criminalization continues to affect Indonesia's
   LGBT population.

   Nebulous pornography law

   The major legislation criminalizing LGBT people in Indonesia is not a
   sodomy law or ban on gay sex, but a vague "pornography law" that has
   been used to charge everyone from sexters to sex workers to sauna
   attendees. Just this year, more than 200 LGBT people were arrested
   under the pornography law. Due to this unchallenged law, the narrow
   court victory, and the ongoing crackdown, many LGBT Indonesians are on
   edge once more after the celebratory moment last Thursday.

   The eight people charged were among 141 gay men detained at a raid last
   May on the Atlantis Gym and Sauna, a move that drew criticism from the
   international human rights community. The men were stripped and faced
   police questioning while naked. Most were released the next day.

   Those charged included a director, strippers, a gym trainer, a
   receptionist and a security guard, according to the Associated Press.
   Activists have called the pornography law used to prosecute them a
   serious incursion into civil liberties.

   The law prohibits sex parties and defines "[1]'deviant sexual acts' to
   include: sex with corpses, sex with animals, oral sex, anal sex,
   lesbian sex, and male homosexual sex," according to Human Rights Watch.
   It sometimes intersects with the Electronic Information and
   Transactions Law, which prohibits exchanging "indecent" material on
   digital platforms, effectively criminalizing actions like sharing nude
   photos.

   The extremely broad sweep of the laws means they have ensnared
   Indonesians ranging from the sauna patrons to the prominent hardline
   Islamist cleric Habib Rizieq Shihab. Authorities put out an arrest
   warrant for him for allegedly exchanging explicit WhatsApp messages
   with a woman.

   According to a [2]2013 Pew report, 93 percent of Indonesians believed
   homosexuality was not acceptable.

   Last year, there was an acute "gay panic" in which, among other things,
   a transgender boarding school was shut down, a former minister called
   on the public to kill gay people, and the vice president personally
   attacked a United Nations program focused on LGBT rights.

   President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo defended LGBT rights with a statement in