Indonesia LGBTQ people fear rising hostility

LGBTQ people in Indonesia say they are living with growing fear as public attacks, hostile official language and proposed restrictions put more pressure on a community already used to hiding.

A gay doctor from Java using the pseudonym Pierre said he hides his sexuality, censors his social media and changes how he dresses and behaves because he feels unsafe. He said the fear is also affecting health, with queer people increasingly reluctant to use healthcare services.

Rights groups say the pressure has intensified. Amnesty International Indonesia reported recent attacks on about a dozen transgender women in Bogor, near Jakarta. The Arus Pelangi LGBTQ advocacy group said it registered 94 violence cases involving 141 victims in 2024 and 2025, while warning that many cases go unreported.

President Prabowo Subianto issued a decree in October 2025 classifying the spread of LGBTQ culture as a non-military threat to the state. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has said it is preparing educational materials to prevent the spread of LGBT culture in public schools. Lawmakers are also considering proposals from Islamic leaders to criminalise sexual "deviancy".

Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, said anti-LGBTQ campaigns were being used to divert public attention from issues such as unemployment, economic slowdown and fuel shortages.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia's coordinating minister for law, human rights, immigration and correctional institutions, denied that the presidential regulation targets LGBTQ people. He said there must be no discrimination, persecution, violence or threats against LGBTQ people, and said the government was trying to counter what he called propaganda spreading LGBTQ ideology and lifestyle.

Religious and political conservatives continue to oppose LGBTQ rights. Indra Zulfanudin, founder of a youth group called Bogor Clean LGBTQ, said Indonesia was in an "LGBTQ emergency" and that his group wanted to eliminate LGBTQ from the country.