Respect for diversity getting chipped

Minorities are treated like second-class citizens in many corners of the globe. Sexual minorities are among those heavily persecuted in oppressive societies. We would not include Indonesia among them, but it is rapidly getting there. Countries that tend to suffocate their citizens are those that ram selected beliefs and values down people’s throats, and ensure that everyone abides by the rules.

Therefore, the oft repeated slogan of respect for diversity is getting increasingly chipped, undermined by many exceptions, including “except the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”

Last week, officials said apps designed for LGBT people would be banned following allegations that some had been used to facilitate child prostitution rings. Images purportedly showing pimps and some of the boys provided for male clientele went viral, and once again we are seeing alarmingly rapid support for a logically flawed and dangerous policy.

Instead of cracking down on suspects of child abuse, among the first measures the government comes up with is the banning of apps for the LGBT community because some were allegedly used for child prostitution.
Would we call for bans on online transactions because many of the facilities are used for crimes? As an activist has pointed out, no one is calling for the banning of Facebook or Twitter, which have also had accounts suspected of being linked to prostitution rings.


Such fallacy is easily accepted by many because of the considerable belief that homosexuality equals pedophilia; the same simplistic assumption that alcoholism leads to rape. There is little demand for research leading to solid policy, as cracking down on perceived sexual deviants is the quick way to save everyone from sin, or so many seem to believe.

Apps considered to be designed for the LGBT community are under investigation, a spokesman for the Communications and Information Ministry said, following its request that Google “block Grindr, BoyAhoy and Blued because these applications promote the LGBT lifestyle and sexual deviance,“ the spokesman, Noor Iza, said.

We all demand better protection for our children. But we know full well where this is heading — that no one can be “different” and the majority who are “normal” get to set the rules on what is acceptable and what is not. Many cite religious reasons, but in communist China it was reported on Monday that Chinese advocates for the LGBT community are fighting “conversion therapy” for sexual minorities treated at a mental hospital.

We must therefore admit that our nation, which upholds the tenet of ‘Belief in one God’ is getting as tyrannical as countries that retain the power to bully citizens, communists or otherwise. Freedom of expression is limited to expressions acceptable to the dominant majority, which a calculating President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo eyes carefully, with the 2019 elections in the background.

Limits on expression should be for hate speech, yet we are seeing the proliferation of hate speech against minorities including the LGBT community.

Rather than targeting the victims, it should be the blaring hate speech makers who are persecuted and jailed, in line with our laws touching on hate speech. That our officials pretend to forget our constitution is the most frightening development here, rather than sexual minorities.

(Asia News Network/The Jakarta Post )
Editorial