Indonesia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy movement has come a long way since the 1960s, when then Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin first facilitated a transgender association in the city.
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Mon, June 29 2015, 6:48 PM
Indonesia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy movement has come a long way since the 1960s, when then Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin first facilitated a transgender association in the city.
“The era after the 1998 reform was the dawn for more political LGBT organizations. […] Before 1998, the LGBT movement was accepted but controlled. After the reform era, LGBT organizations could get more political,” the director of LGBT rights group Suara Kita, Hartoyo, said on Monday.
Here we list the milestones of the Indonesian LGBT advocacy movement:
1960: Establishment of the Jakarta Transgender Association (Hiwad), with the support of then Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin. Other cities subsequently established similar organizations.
1982: Creation of the first public gay organization, Lambda Indonesia. Lambda members were mostly gay men, with little participation from lesbians or transgenders. The organization was disbanded in 1986.
1987: Creation of GAYa Nusantara, the oldest LGBT group still in existence.
1993: Indonesian Lesbian and Gay Congress (KLGI) held in Kaliurang, near Yogyakarta. Subsequent congresses were held in Lembang, West Java, in 1995, and in Denpasar, Bali, in 1997.
1998: Lesbian and bisexual women, as well as transgender men, participate in the Indonesian Women’s Congress in 1998.
2006: Signing of the Yogyakarta Principles, the first international principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.
2007: Establishment of the Gay, Transgender and Men Who Have Sex with Men Network (GWL INA), which aims to support the scale-up of HIV prevention and care programs for targeted communities.
2008: After the third International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) Conference in Thailand, six LGBT organizations from Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta team up to strengthen the movement, the forerunner of today’s LGBTIQ Forum.
2013: National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) sets LGBT rights as a topic for a plenary discussion for the first time in 10 years.
From various sources. (fsu/ebf)(++++)