T

he debate on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights is still being conducted in the negative terms of deviancy and community norms, an activist has said.

North Sulawesi LGBT Forum advocacy division head Coco Jerico said media reports regarding the LGBT community in North Sulawesi were unbalanced. The negative coverage, he added, shaped the mindset of the public and led to the stigmatizing of and discrimination against the LGBT community.

“The negative news has an impact on the LGBT community in North Sulawesi, especially in the three major cities of Manado, Tomohon and Bitung. The media exaggerates negative reporting of LGBT issues,” said Coco.

In addition, the occurrence of oppression against LGBT in the three cities has increased. Coco gave as examples a raid in Manado during which the local police sexually harassed LGBT members and private universities that clearly rejected students based on their LGBT orientation.

Access to Justice for LGBT project officer at the Partnership for Government Reform (Kemitraan), Veronica Iswinahyu, said her group had documented several cases of violence against LGBT members.

“The media had limited coverage of LGBT issues in 2014, with only around 50 incidents. In January this year the news was still alright, but in February, around 250 negative news stories were reported concerning LGBT issues,” she said.

She added that according to data, 155 negative events and news stories involving the LGBT community were reported in 16 provinces in Indonesia.

“There were 62 instances of hate speech, which dominated the types of incidents that occurred, followed by 38 discriminatory statements by state officials. Biased news coverage by the media in Jakarta also has an impact on negative news in the regions and leads to further hatred against the LGBT community outside the capital city of Indonesia,” she added.

Jakarta had the highest prevalence of negative news coverage, she said, with around 32 percent of the total incidents, followed by Yogyakarta with 17 percent.

Veronica believed the media reported issues negatively because it regarded the LGBT community as a serious threat, because the LGBT community was deemed as being opposed to religion and the state, as causing infectious diseases and a threat to public order and morality.

She added that news from Jakarta, in other words national news, was very influential in the regions. The regional media follows the news in Jakarta, and often news in the regions regarding LGBT issues is simply the result of copying news from Jakarta.

Separately, Arus Pelangi education coordinator Linni Zurlia said her group’s task was to monitor the impact on the LGBT community and advocate for LGBT rights.

“The media reported 315 incidents, and more than half were from Jakarta. An example of the impact of the negative publicity was the long march by the LGBT community in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Aug. 17. The event attracted public derision and then made media headlines in Makassar,” said Linni.

Head of the Manado chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Yoseph Ikanubun, said the LGBT issue had little relevance initially and had been overwhelmed by wider political issues in Manado.

“The AJI’s stance is quite firm as we don’t discriminate or stigmatize minority communities, including the LGBT community, and journalists in Manado have different characteristics,” said Yoseph. According to him, the news coverage was not balanced because no one thought through LGBT issues in a moderate way.

North Sulawesi Sanubari (Salut) program manager Ryan Jho said many people viewed the community negatively.

“Violence against the LGBT community by the general public has made members of the community feel worthless and in the absence of support or education they have gathered to form groups such as the GAP community,” said Ryan.

Salut administration manager Kheke Taalendo said members of the lesbian community no longer assembled because of police raids aimed at them simply because of their orientation.