The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsSurvey on acceptance in Indonesia gives LGBT community hope
The survey found that 9 percent of Indonesians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, an increase from only 3 percent in 2013.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
A
recent survey about homosexuality acceptance in Indonesia has given gay and human rights activists some hope for a future where the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community could live without fear of persecution.
United States-based Pew Research Institute polled 38,426 respondents across 34 countries from May to October last year and found that 9 percent of Indonesians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, an increase from only 3 percent in 2013.
Despite the low figure, prominent LGBT activist Hartoyo remains optimistic, seeing the growth from 2013 as a sign that those supporting LGBT people had not remained quiet.
"Even though the number is still small, I strongly believe that they are changemakers," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
"I am very optimistic because there are no fundamental reasons to reject the existence of the LGBT community as human beings," he said, citing the global movement in supporting LGBT people as a supporting factor.
"Maybe one day, we can reach a 40:60 ratio where the 40 percent support LGBT people. But those 40 percent would be the ones making decisions for this country."
LGBT rights campaigner and scholar Dede Oetomo also attributed the increasing public tolerance to movements coming from different backgrounds, mentioning progressive preachers, scholars and artists, among other groups.
