Indonesian Soldiers Jailed For Having Sex In Anti-LGBTQ+ Crackdown

Two Indonesian soldiers have been kicked out of the army and sentenced to seven months in prison for having gay sex.

While gay sex is currently legal for civilians in most parts of the country, it is banned for members of the military.

Soon, though, as LGBTQ Nation reports, it will be completely banned. The country passed a new law banning sex outside of marriage, and same-sex marriages are not legal in the country.

Image Credit: Pixabay

The law will apply to both locals and foreigners but will not take effect for three years.

The ruling against the soldiers reportedly stated that: “The defendants’ acts of committing deviant sexual behavior with the same sex was very inappropriate because as soldiers, the defendants should be an example for the people in the defendants’ surrounding environment.” It further declared that their “actions were very much against the law or any religious provisions.”

The sentence is part of a larger crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in the country.

“This has been the increasing pattern among the Indonesian armed forces and police in recent years,” said Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid, “where [service] members were being fired or taken into court just for who they are, who they love, who they like.”

A gay party was raided in 2020, and after publicly humiliating the 141 men arrested in a gay sauna in 2017, the government banned all LGBTQ+ TV content, tried to shut down an international LGBTQ+ sporting event, and the Aceh region arrested 12 trans women and shaved their heads to “make them men.”

A mayor in Indonesia recently called for increased raids against LGBTQ+ people. In Aceh province (the one place where homosexuality is currently banned), gay and trans prisoners face 100 lashes as punishment.

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