Indonesia’s LGBT community has faced increased hostility in the past few years. In January, human rights activists condemned the actions of religious police in Aceh, the only province in Indonesia that actively enforces Islamic law and outlaws homosexuality.
Police raided the homes of 12 transgender women after parents in the community complained that the “social disease” was corrupting their children. The suspects were detained and taken to hair salons, where they were forced to cut their hair into a “masculine” style.
Targeting people for expressing their identity and forcing people to conform to societal expectations is a cruel attack on human dignity. Indonesia should be held to the same international obligations enforced in other countries: to ensure humane treatment for all people.
Amnesty International stated the public shaming demonstrated how Aceh was becoming “an increasingly hostile place” for members of the LGBT community.
Despite frequent discriminatory displays of intolerance throughout the nation, organizations like the Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah school in Yogyakarta seek to create a safe space for the “waria,” a colloquial term for the transgender community. Founded in 2008 by matron Shinta Ratri, the Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah school attracts waria worshippers hoping to escape ridicule and express their freedom of religion. Residents are encouraged to question their sexuality and gender identity and how it impacts their relationship with God.
The openness and acceptance embodied in this space allows the waria to feel connected to each other and to their community.
The Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah school is an important local center of the national “Transgender Care” program. This initiative of the Indonesian Family Planning Association provides vocational training, ID cards and social services to waria throughout Indonesia. The school has also hosted a free health clinic with a local doctor.
Waria often gather at the Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah school to participate in a weekly study group where people can pray and practice reading from the Quran in Arabic. Many participants choose to wear mukenas, women’s prayer dresses, to these sessions. In 2016, the school was temporarily shut down following attacks from vigilante Islamists.
Unwilling to back down in the face of violent threats, Ratri quietly reopened the facilities during Ramadan. As Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah’s residents gradually returned to the space, they expressed anger over the violation of their rights and personal security.
Hardline Islamic groups are eating away at Indonesia’s long-standing reputation for tolerance of minorities. Historically, waria and other members of the LGBT community have been accepted and respected by Indonesian society. The Bugis ethnic group traditionally accepted the existence of five genders, including one that combines male and female.
Members of extremist groups now feel it is their duty to erase “LGBT behavior” in the community. They claim a transgender identity is a disease that can be cured through prayer and repentance for the sin.
Ratri remains unphased by the influx of threats against her school and residents. She chooses to focus on strengthening the warias’ social safety net and making her school the best it can be.
“We are survivors,” Ratri told Voice of America. “When there were attacks on and discrimination against us, it made us want to fight.”
