The latest indication of growing pressure on the LGBTQ community in Indonesia from religious conservatives is the cancellation of a Southeast Asian LGBTQ event after organisers received security threats.
Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, homosexuality remains taboo even though it is not against the law except in the sharia-ruled region of Aceh.
In Indonesia, other LGBTQ related events have also been postponed as a result of opposition from Islamic organisations. Following criticism from a significant religious organisation, the United States cancelled the visit of its special envoy for LGBTQ issues in December.
The ‘ASEAN Queer Advocacy Week’ was scheduled to begin in Jakarta on July 17 and bring together activists from all over Southeast Asia to talk about advocacy and overcoming challenges. The rights organisation ASEAN SOGIE Caucus from the Philippines, Arus Pelangi from Indonesia, and other activists jointly organised it.
To “ensure the safety and security of both the participants and the organiser,” the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus stated that they had now relocated the event outside of Indonesia.
“The organizers of the ASEAN Queer Advocacy Week decided to relocate the venue of the programme outside Indonesia, after receiving a series of security threats from various groups,” ASEAN SOGIE Caucus said in a statement late on Tuesday.
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