LGBTQ+ people attacked in Indonesia as president brands them ‘national threat’
President Prabowo Subianto (Getty Images)
LGBTQ+ people in Indonesia are at risk after the country’s president branded queer “culture” a national threat to society, with some facing physical attacks and abuse.
In October last year, President Prabowo Subianto issued a 70-page presidential regulation on national defence policy, outlining nonmilitary threats like illegal trafficking, national resource theft, terrorism, radicalism, atheism, online gambling and drug abuse. ‘The promotion of LGBTQ culture’ also made the list.
According to the Jakarta Post, the document defines nonmilitary threats as unarmed activities that endanger state sovereignty, territorial integrity and public safety. It also instructs relevant ministries, state institutions and regional administrations outside the defence sector to respond to these threats.
As a result, Indonesia’s LGBTQ+ community has been put in danger by the statement.
“The presidential regulation provides new legitimation both for the central government and regional administrations to enact legislation that penalises and discriminates against LGBTQ individuals merely because of their identities,” Albert Wirya, the executive director or Legal Aid Institute for the People told the Jakarta Post on 7 July.
The Human Rights Watch has also said that harassment and attacks against Indonesian LGBTQ+ university students escalated during Pride Month 2026 following the president’s announcement.
On 7 July, the New York-based nonprofit said that at least 10 public universities in Indonesia recently adopted discriminatory regulations and began curbing discussions around gender and sexual diversity.
“Indonesian authorities are looking the other way during an upsurge of attacks on LGBT university students and others,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Indonesia’s universities are contributing to the problem by discriminating against students on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.”
In response to Pride Month, the Indonesian Ulema Council, a conservative Islamic scholars’ body, told MUI Digital that “sexual deviation” should carry criminal penalties “harsher than the punishment for adultery”.
“Currently, there’s no punishment for LGBT. There’s no legal provision for that,” said the deputy chairman of the group, known as Kiai Cholil. “Ultimately, when a case is discovered, the pattern is simply initiated by the regional head to provide guidance or barracks. This is because there’s no fixed sentence of years.”
Individuals have also been targeted as a consequence of President Subianto’s classification. Pelangi Nusantara, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, recently shared details of a trans woman being attacked by an anti-LGBTQ+ group in the Java city of Bogor.
“A hate account called @bogorbersihlgbt recently uploaded videos showing attacks carried out against a trans woman,” the post reads. “The footage shows a group of men punching, kicking and dousing a victim with urine. In another video, several trans women are chased.”
It continues: “Based on the information we’ve gathered, at least 15 trans women have been attacked. Most of the victims are poor trans women who survive by working on the streets. In addition to being beaten and doused with urine, some were also stripped naked. The victims are now suffering from trauma as well as serious physical injuries.”
LGBTQ+ identities are not criminalised in most of Indonesia, but same-sex relations are illegal under Shariah Laws and in Aceh, the westernmost province of the country. Offenders can receive up to 1.5 years in prison.
Trans and intersex people are allowed to change their legal gender, but only after undergoing gender-affirming surgery and receiving judicial approval.
However, at least six national laws still indirectly discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, including the Pornography Law, the Marriage Law, the Government Regulation on Child Adoption, the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, the Criminal Code, and Ministry of Health Regulation No. 2 of 2025, according to the Human Rights Watch.
The Southeast Asian country was colonised primarily by the Dutch in the 16th century, but has also seen partial and periodic occupation by the British, Portuguese and Japanese since then.
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