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View all search resultsRights groups oppose calls to criminalize LGBTQ people
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Echa Wa’ode (center), an activist from LGBTQ rights organization Arus Pelangi, marches with other participants on March 8, 2025, during a protest organized by the Indonesian Women's Alliance (API) on the 50th International Women's Day demanding labor rights, gender equality and protections in Jakarta. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
C
ivil society groups have condemned growing calls from religious leaders and lawmakers to criminalize LGBTQ people and advocacy, warning that such proposals would violate fundamental rights and further marginalize an already vulnerable minority.
Earlier this week, the Human Rights and Democracy Civil Society Network denounced recent proposals by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and House of Representatives members to impose criminal penalties on LGBTQ people in Indonesia.
The network, comprising legal aid organizations and dozens of rights groups, said the proposals threatened democratic freedoms and civic space for LGBTQ Indonesians.
“Such criminalization [would mark] a setback for democracy and further narrow civic space for discussing crucial anti-discrimination issues,” the coalition said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The proposal followed calls from MUI deputy chairman Muhammad Cholil Nafis last week for the government and House to establish a stronger legal framework to prosecute LGBTQ individuals, arguing that rehabilitation programs run by local administrations “lacked a sufficient deterrent effect.”
“Rehabilitation for LGBTQ people is not enough because there’s no firm punishment in it,” Cholil said on June 10.
Read also: Are Indonesians homophobic?
