New poll shows growing anti-LGBT sentiments in Indonesia

by Tim Gibson

A new poll of the heavily Islamic country shows an overwhelming 90% of Indonesians feel threatened by LGBT+ people. A survey by the Saiful Mujani Research Centre published the results earlier this week, saying on their website that although Indonesians view LGBT+ people negatively “the public is also of the view that the LGBT community has the right to live in Indonesia and that the government should protect them like other citizens.”

Yet, the survey also showed that 87% found LGBT+ people a threat to private or public life, and half of all people surveyed did not even know LGBT+ meant – the results only counted the half that did know. A majority of Indonesians also disagreed that an LGBT+ person should ever be able to hold public office, saying their religion prohibited LGBT+ lifestyles. This supports a similar poll conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 2013 which found that 93% of Indonesians believed society should not accept homosexuality.

Indonesia has seen an increase in homophobic and anti-LGBT+ activity lately. A series of public and brutal raids by police targeting “gay spas” has seen many gay men arrested. While homosexuality is not explicitly illegal in the country LGBT+ people are targeted with intensive anti-pornography laws, meanwhile the community is not protected by anti-discrimination or hate crime laws.

Last month a conservative political group tried to install a ban on all consensual extramarital sex (which would obviously include any same-sex relations). The group was struck down by the Constitutional Court but remains lobbying parliament to revise the criminal code regarding LGBT+ people.

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