HIV/AID education event in Yogyakarta cancelled over concerns it was promoting LGBT

Photo illustration
Photo illustration

Beyond violating the rights and privacy of the country’s gay and transexual individuals, experts warn that the LGBT moral panic gripping Indonesia is also exacerbating an HIV/AID epidemic by making it much harder for health outreach programs to reach those who are most at-risk, as illustrated by the cancellation of an HIV awareness event in Yogyakarta yesterday.

The event, called All for Love Metamorphosis, had been set to take place yesterday in the Yogyakarta regency of Sleman, but was cancelled after photos of the event’s name and logo led locals to suspect that it was a pro-LGBT Valentine’s Day party.

Photo of the event's information that went viral over accusations that it would be pro-LGBT
Photo of the event’s information that went viral over accusations that it would be pro-LGBT

Police announced that the event had been cancelled yesterday following the public outcry, saying that they wouldn’t have been able to secure the event if it had been perceived to be pro-LGBT while also noting that it was the event’s organizers themselves who chose to cancel it.

“Already muspika (the sub-district leadership council) and the organizing committee made a statement that they would not hold the event, it has been canceled,” Sleman Police Chief, Rizky Ferdiansyah said when contacted by Detik yesterday afternoon.

The event, which was to be held by the Yogyakarta Victory Plus Foundation, a government recognized NGO that focuses on HIV/AIDS outreach and health services, confirmed that they had chosen to cancel the event due to the uproar.

The foundation’s director lamented that the event’s name and rainbow butterfly logo might have given the public the wrong impression, but said the event had been strictly about getting more participants to get out and get checked for HIV.

The Sleman Health Office had even agreed and prepared to conduct HIV tests on participants at the event, before it was cancelled.

An HIV/AIDS foundation in Riau was similarly targeted with accusations of LGBT promotion last month, but, in that case, government representatives came to the group’s defense when Islamic groups and a conservative politician tried to shut down the group’s office.

In a report released last year, Human Rights Watch argued that the ongoing LGBT panic in Indonesia and the heightened stigmatization faced by homosexuals had led to a dramatic five-fold increase in HIV rates among gay men since 2007, from 5% to 25%.



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