Indonesia says 'no room' for gays

Religion of peace and tolerance.

Ah, Indonesia. A country often cited as a success story in the Muslim world.

Why do they hide their faces? If they truly believe LGBT people are wrong then show your face.

We are only 1.6% of any given population. These people act like we are some kind of dangerous majority. Well, I guess you have to have someone to blame for your problems. We gays are the modern Jews.

Some (male) Indonesian students of mine asked me a few months ago my opinion of homosexuality. I was surprised but had a frank exchange with them; their main objection seemed to be that gay sex does not result in procreation, and I pointed out the likelihood that most of them hope to Allah that sexual acts do not result in procreation the majority of times they have sex - and they laughed.

One can hope that, with growing international contact such as my students have, Indonesia can drag itself from the 19th century into the 21st.

gokai_wo_manekuAUG. 11, 2016 - 04:16PM JST We are only 1.6% of any given population.

It would seem a lot higher in 2016. Not sure where your stat comes from.

The continued persecution of gays is pretty senseless, but to be expected in third world countries like Indonesia. Sounds like a great place to avoid.

A majority of Muslims, including those in the West, view homosexuality as a crime, so this shouldn't be surprising at all.

@Madverts The 1.6% is a statistic I learned when I was studying at university. That was about 15 years ago, but I just found the same figure in the Wikipedia article on LGBT demographics.

Another sparking stance of blatant intolerance of segment of their society.

there is no room in Indonesia for the proliferation of the LGBT movement

Says who? Says you!

My support to those who stand for their honor and integrity, not to those who stand for cowardice and fear.

Oh look, another Islamic governed country officially approving human rights injustice. I'm sooo shocked.

I'd like to think that this was a extreme radical view but sadly the Indonesian government seems not to be interested in protecting many of its own citizens due to their sexual orientation.

What do they mean by "proliferation"? It is not as if people are suddently rapantly becoming gay. You are born that way! One of the 1.6%! We are a very exclusive club!

Islamism is gaining strength all over the world, egged on Wahabi oil money and by refusal of Western society to address the issue. At least Indonesia is (with the exception of a Aceh) officially not an islamic nation. The official state ideology is Pancasila. Unsurprisingly, the muslim majority is working hard to change that.

I've always had the hardest time figuring out Indonesia and the Indonesians. On one hand they can be the nicest people you would ever want to meet but on the other they are capable of some of the most insane brutality imaginable. It's like there is some kind of craziness just under the surface and it can boil over at any time and for any reason. I've seen spontaneous riots break out in Java where people were seriously getting hurt but when the dust settled nobody seemed to know what started it in the first place. It's like they're cocked pistols just waiting for someone or something to pull the trigger.

During the purge of the Indonesian Communist Party in the 60s, the army, political figures and religious leaders used rhetoric to rile up the population and it resulted in the deaths of upwards of a million people. These people were not killed by the army they were killed by their neighbors. Much of the rhetoric was directed at the un-Islamic nature of the targeted group.

Now you have religious and political hardliners attacking the LGBT community with much the same kind of rhetoric and the spring is getting wound up. When it pops, Indonesia will be a very bad place to be LGBT.