After hearing such degrading stories about homophobia like this one, we never imagined that any government official in Indonesia would be progressive enough to say that LGBT individuals are just as deserving of respect and support as anybody else.
We’re so glad we were wrong.
Bekasi plans to allocate funds to set up LGBT communities in the satellite city starting in 2016. Mayor Rahmat Effendi said he believes every citizen’s rights should be protected, regardless of their sexual orientation.
“If they have plans for community programs for same-sex couples, they should let us know, we can plan them together so they can run smoothly,” Efendi said, as quoted by Vivanews today.
“The social impact can be so negative if we ignore them (LGBT citizens). That’s why we must cradle them.”
Effendi explained that the community programs in question can be anything from holding social events to starting businesses run by LGBT citizens.
Bekasi has definitely restored our faith in Indonesia’s stance towards LGBT. We hope other governments will follow Bekasi’s example so that no one, regardless of their sexual orientation, will live in fear of discrimination in Indonesia.
Reader Interactions