TheJakartaPost
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 resultsNew Criminal Code ‘nail in coffi n’ for LGBTQ rights
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!
T
he Criminal Code provisions banning sex outside marriage represent a major new threat to the LGBTQ community's rights in the country, where same-sex unions are not recognized.
"It's another nail in the coffin at the moment. A big nail," Dede Oetomo, an activist with the LGBTQ rights group GAYa NUSANTARA, told AFP.
Once enacted, the legislation approved on Tuesday in parliament would punish sex outside marriage with one year in prison, while unmarried people living together could face six months in jail.
The reforms make it riskier for gay couples to live together openly in a country where they already face widespread discrimination and anti-LGBTQ regulations, according to activists.
"Before the new criminal code, it was already bad. People can be searched even in their private residences. Although it was not systematic, it can happen," Oetomo said.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country and its constitution recognises six religions.
Homosexuality is not illegal in the Southeast Asian nation, except in the police, military and in Islamic law-abiding Aceh province, but rights groups say the legislative changes pose an inherent risk to LGBTQ people.
