Asian LGBT Groups Meet in Indonesia to Discuss Human Rights

From the Jakarta Post - June 9, 2008

Asian gay, transgender groups fight for their rights

Irawaty Wardany ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Mon, 06/09/2008 10:29 AM  |  Bali

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups in Asia have agreed to develop an international network to advocate protection of their rights in their respective countries and at the regional level.

Bali hosted a conference of the groups from June 2 to 6 in the tourism enclave Nusa Dua. The conference was attended by 21 participants from eight countries -- Indonesia, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China and Thailand.

"We agreed to make some kind of international network to advocate protection of LGBT rights in our countries," Rido Triawan, head of Arus Pelangi, an Indonesian non-governmental organization that fights for LGBT rights, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He said it would be like an open communication channel connecting LGBY communities in different countries, so that when there was a problem in one country the communities could work in unison to apply political pressure on the government in question.

Generally, Rido said, LGBT communities in Asia faced similar problems.

"We are all at this time suffering from stigmatization, discrimination, persecution from religious groups and discriminative government regulations," he said.

"For example, the 2004 regional regulation in Palembang, South Sumatra, categorizes LGBT as a form of prostitution," Rido said.

He said religious-based persecution was the most difficult problem LGBT groups faced in Indonesia.

"Those religious doctrines are then being integrated into the formal education curriculum. Naturally, the curriculum educates the students that the only 'normal' and accepted sexual orientation is heterosexuality," he said.

Consequently, other sexual orientations are considered as not "normal" and unacceptable.

This has resulted in students and communities discriminating against members of the homosexual and transgender community.

"There are many cases of discrimination experienced by members of the LGBT community. One example involved a man who openly acknowledged his sexual orientation of being gay. Suddenly, his company fired him for no apparent reason," Rido said.

He said other gay workers faced varying levels of hostility from co-workers.

"They suddenly keep a distance or, even worse, socially isolate him just because he is gay," he said.

He said upholding the rights of the LGBT community was a significant issue since sexual orientation was also part of human rights.

Rido said the LGBT community in Indonesia just wanted to be acknowledged and treated the same as the other Indonesian citizens, who enjoyed the right to education, health, work and all the other basic human rights.

"It is still very hard for people to accept the fact that LGBT are also human beings, who should be treated humanely," said Arus Pelangi secretary general, Yuli Rustinawati.

A Sri Lankan LGBT activist, Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, said the situation in Sri Lanka was worse than in Indonesia.

"Being part of LGBT communities in Sri Lanka is similar to committing a criminal offense. That's the reason why people with LGBT sexual orientation prefer to be invisible," she said.

She said members of the LGBT community in her country who fell victim to criminal acts often didn't report their cases to the police, because the treatment they would receive could be worse than the perpetrators of the criminal acts.

She said she participated in LGBT conferences and seminars around the world to learn about human rights instruments that could be used to advance the struggle in her country.