The government’s attempts to deny the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population has now been taken to the global stage.

Indonesia has joined a group of 17 countries, including of conservative countries like Saudi Arabia, to block a plan to include the rights of LGBT communities in a new urban strategy drawn up by the UN.

The plan, aiming to acknowledge homophobia, was initiated by Canada and backed by the European Union, the US and Mexico. It is due to be finalized at a major UN conference in Ecuador next week.

The UN’s ‘‘New Urban Agenda’’ is a non-binding agreement to address the challenges of rapidly growing cities globally and will be adopted at Habitat III in Quito, setting out guidelines for sustainable urban development over the next 20 years.

The recogni...