Indonesia has seen a sharp increase in anti-LGBT sentiment and discrimination of late, but one local celebrity recently decided to brave the social backlash to be true to herself and reveal that she was transgender. Surprisingly, her decision has received a great deal of unabashed support from some in the increasingly conservative country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggHdXkjOqSw
Last week, DJ and dangdut singer Gebby Vesta — who once kicked a man in the face for touching her crotch — posted a 3-minute video to her Instagram and Youtube accounts in which she came out as a transwoman. Previously, Gebby had repeatedly denied reports that she was a transgender woman but she finally decided to come forward with her story.
According to Gebby, she had sex reassignment surgery around six years ago but has been identifying as a woman for around 19 years. Up until her coming out video, Gebby said not many people knew about her past.
“In the last 19 years, many people asked me, ‘Why didn’t you come out? Why are you not being honest?’. Maybe because you weren’t in my position where I had to go through [all these things]. I had inner turmoil when I went through many things, at that time I was afraid I could lose my job,” Gebby says in the video.
Gebby admitted that her decision to come out was motivated by several hardships she has faced in recent years, such as her father’s sickness, which she thought was God’s warning to her to tell the truth. With her announcement, Gebby said she wishes to live a low-key life by quitting showbiz so she can take care of her parents and focus on her business ventures.
“Why am I brave enough to be honest now? Because now I believe that fortune and death, everything has been preordained by God, and I can’t fight [God’s fate]. Now I want to totally quit the entertainment business, that’s why I have come forward because I want to leave everything, including the world that has brought me fame,” Gebby says through her tears.
Gebby ends her video by thanking her loved ones and her followers who have “defended her fiercely”.
After Gebby’s video went viral over the weekend, several of her fellow celebrities — including members of the LGBT community who themselves have been targets of discrimination — and netizens expressed their support.
“Can’t say anything other than, I love you Sister. Keep your spirit up, Sis… I cried watching this video”
“10 thumbs up for you… I admire your honesty, I’m sure it will be better in the future, Allah SWT will always bestow your fortune upon you. I hope your intention to be a better and useful person will be granted by Allah SWT, I wish you and your family, father and mother, will always be under His protection. Hope you’ll always be given health, fortune will always come your way, your wishes be granted… and hopefully you can always help people who aren’t fortunate… Amen.”
“Keep your spirit up, Kak Gebby. I’ve been following you since 2016, I don’t care whether you’re trans or not. I think you’re so cool you’ve made your parents happy, you started from nothing and became a successful person. You’ll always be my motivation to be a successful person, much love for you.”
Over the weekend, Gebby said that she uploaded the video because she was “haunted by guilt for lying to the public”.
It’s also fortunate for Gebby that she has supportive parents, who were said to be relieved after she came out.
“Apparently, being honest is beautiful. My mom called, she said she’s relieved. Now, whenever she’s going out, or going anywhere, she’s not afraid of getting insulted by people,” Gebby continued.
Transphobia is quite prevalent in the Indonesian entertainment scene. Perhaps the most famous case in recent years is that of dangdut singer Lucinta Luna, whose constant denials that she was once a man led to hostile online bullying (with some netizens going as far as trying to unearth photos of her pre-transition) as well as round-the-clock reporting by gossip programs focusing on her gender.
The mass media certainly plays a part in the normalization of transphobia in Indonesia. Trans celebrities have often been the butt of insensitive jokes, from the days of legendary transwoman celebrity Dorce to popular present-day variety shows.
This normalization of transphobia in the public sphere has created a climate of fear and terror among transgender Indonesians, with authorities taking extra-legal action to harass and humiliate them. For example, in November of last year, three transwomen in the Indonesian province of Lampung were hosed down using a fire truck by local authorities in order to cleanse their “impurities”; another case in the Jakarta satellite city of Bekasi saw two transwomen beaten up and stripped by 50 young men.
Human Rights Watch last year released a report highlighting the disturbing rise in discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals in Indonesia.
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