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For Indonesia’s queer community, streaming offers window to be seen
Streaming services, with their wide reach and the government's current lack of regulation, have been relatively free to broadcast LGBTQ portrayals in their content, even as inclusive representation has grown into a divisive issue in contemporary Indonesian society.
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Indonesian Muslims shout slogans as they take part in a protest in front of the police headquarters in Jakarta on Nov. 10, 2023 to demand the cancellation of the Nov. 15 concert by British rock band Coldplay, whom protesters say are supportive of LGBT rights, which goes against Muslim doctrines. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
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or many viewers, Indonesia's lucrative streaming industry offers a wealth of new entertainment options, even as it enriches public discourse and drives local production in a country that has been trying to put the creative economy on a development pedestal in recent years.
As a plus, some programs have doubled as an opportunity to showcase a more inclusive representation of the human experience, especially minority groups that continue to be disenfranchised and discriminated against.
But for groups like the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community, battling established norms and moral standards is already a difficult endeavor that might get worse if viewers follow the government’s conservative turn.
For what it’s worth, gender and sexuality researcher Hendri Yulius Wijaya said he had noticed a shift in the way his gender normative friends perceived LGBTQ relationships after tuning into certain shows on streaming services.
“Series in the boys’ love genre portray intimacy between two men in such a sweet way that they like it,” Hendri told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Though he noted that such portrayals were far from being encompassing of all LGBTQ people, Hendri said he was glad such content was presenting his community in a positive light and more importantly, were normalizing them in ways that the Indonesian film industry was still struggling to do.
In December, the country’s Film Censorship Institute (LSF) revealed that the results of a recent study showed 41 percent of the broadcast audience agreed that scenes depicting LGBTQ people made them uncomfortable and should be considered as a criterion for censorship.
