Indonesia clerics warn men not to wear dresses

Indonesia's top Islamic clerical body has warned men not to wear women's clothing during Independence Day festivities, despite a long-standing tradition in some communities of men in dresses playing football as part of the annual celebrations.

The Indonesian Ulema Council, known as MUI, said in a statement that such behaviour was haram, or forbidden. Its Fatwa Commission said the warning also applied to women dressing as men.

The council said its intervention was intended to prevent what it called a covert campaign by the “LGSP” movement, an acronym it promotes instead of LGBT.

Indonesians celebrate the country's declaration of independence from colonisation on August 17, 1945, with games, parades and community contests. In some places, men wear dresses and hijab to play football, a practice widely seen as comic rather than a statement on gender identity. Men also sometimes dress up for independence parades.

The latest warning came amid rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment in Muslim-majority Indonesia, after physical attacks on gay people and a presidential regulation classifying “LGBTQ culture” as a security threat.