Jeffrey Hutton, Jakarta, Indonesia – Steven Handoko admits it wasn't his most dignified moment.

Phelim Kine – On Monday, he called for Indonesia's beleaguered lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population to be, "nurtured, not shunned."

Shannon Power – A group of trans women attending a birthday province were targeted by vigilantes in Indonesia.

Muh. Syaifullah, Yogyakarta – Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin asked society not to excommunicate and avoid lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

Kyle Knight – Militant Islamist vigilantes targeted a group of transgender women attending a birthday celebration in Indonesia's Aceh province on Saturday.

An Indonesian court has sentenced ten men to two years in prison for taking part in a gay sex party at a sauna, court documents show.

"The extremists called and told us they planned to attack. We called the police beforehand, they wouldn't come... [they] showed up at the very end and watched us be beaten."

Shannon Power – A government crackdown on Indonesian LGBTI people has caused an increase in death threats against advocates and organizations working with the LGBTI community.

Sebastian Strangio, Yogyakarta – When Shinta Ratri prays, like many devout Indonesian women she dons a mukena, a long flowing gown often embroidered with colourful and intricate designs.

Joseph Patrick McCormick – Indonesia has blocked GIFs on WhatsApp in an attempt to stop "obscene" images from being shared, including "gay photos".

Matthew Ozug – Below a highway overpass in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, college students eat fried noodles and spicy chicken stew from brightly lit food stalls that fill this gritty space.

Rachel Eddie – Hundreds of people have been publicly flogged in Indonesia since the Aceh province introduced stricter Sharia by-laws two years ago.

Shannon Power – One of the hundreds of men rounded up in Indonesia's crackdown on its LGBTI community has shared his story from jail.

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – Suspicion that gay rights is a "Western agenda" aimed at destroying Indonesian culture has helped fuel an unprecedented crackdown on the nation's LGBT community.

Jakarta – Days after a long-running Indonesian television comedy aired last month, its producers got a letter from the broadcast commission warning that a male character in the show was "dressed an

Samantha Hawley, Indonesia – Earlier this week, 58 men, including some foreigners, were arrested after police raided the gym and sauna in the country's capital.

Jakarta – Following an investigation into an alleged gay spa raided in Harmoni, Central Jakarta, last Friday, the Jakarta Police have said that the venue, called T1, did not provide sex workers.

Activists say police targeting of consensual gay sex has shone a light on discrimination and harassment in the world's third-largest democracy.

Jakarta – Indonesian police detained 51 men including several foreigners in a raid on what authorities described as a "gay spa" in Jakarta late on Friday, and some could face up to six years in pri

Andreas Harsono – Indonesian police in Jakarta raided a sauna popular with gay men on Friday night, arresting 51 people.

Nicola Smith – Indonesia is debating a law that would ban LGBT characters from national television shows, in the latest move in a sweeping crackdown on gay rights in the world's largest Muslim nati

James Besanvalle – Indonesia lawmakers will ban all LGBTI characters on TV, according to recent reports.

Shannon Power – Indonesia has backtracked on its decision to reject 75 human rights United Nations' recommendations and will accept two regarding LGBTI issues.

Phelim Kine – This week at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Indonesia accepted two recommendations from UN member countries to improve the situation for sexual and gender minoriti

Krithika Varagur, Yogyakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia's only Islamic school for transgender people closed with much drama in February 2016 after it came under fire by a local hardline Muslim group.

Andreas Harsono – Indonesia's Attorney General's Office announced this week that it had rescinded a job notice that not only barred lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) applicants, but su

Joseph Patrick McCormick – The Indonesian Attorney General has rescinded a job notice which banned LGBT people.

Jakarta – A rights group is calling on the Indonesian government to immediately investigate a raid by police and village leaders that forced 12 women described as lesbians out of their community.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government should urgently investigate the September 2, 2017 police raid on the homes of 12 "suspected lesbians," Human Rights Watch said today.

Kate Lamb, Jakarta – Twelve women have been evicted from their home in the conservative Indonesian province of West Java amid renewed fears of crackdown on sexual diversity.

Local police in Bogor raided a rented home on Saturday night due to reports that the 12 women living there were lesbians. Authorities say the women left the village after the raid.

Jakarta – Female couples have been expelled from their rented house after local authorities of Tugujaya village, Bogor regency, West Java, accused them of being lesbians.

Jeffrey Hutton – Up until mid May, Fajar Prabowo supervised mobile HIV testing units that fanned out to Jakarta's gay saunas and bars in an effort to reach hundreds of closeted homosexuals who fear

Marching through the streets of East Timor's capital Dili with a rainbow flag in his hand, Natalino Guterres was overwhelmed with emotion, reminding him of how he felt 15 years ago when he saw the

Agnes Anya, Jakarta – Starbucks Indonesia clarified on Wednesday that the company had no affiliation with any political or ideological groups.

Josh Jackman – A tiny war-torn island in Asia has taken two huge steps forward in promoting LGBT rights.

Dili, East Timor – Gay rights have taken a step forward in East Timor with its first LGBT pride parade and the prime minister announcing that the young nation's development depends on respecting th

Shannon Power – In an act described as a 'breath of hope in the region', Timor Leste's Prime Minister has made a definitive statement in support of LGBTI rights.

Nilufar Rizki and Jessica Damiana, Jakarta – A leader of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organisation has called for a boycott of Starbucks, saying that the international coffee chain's pro-gay s

Gayatri Suroyo and Stefanno Reinard, Jakarta – When an angry mob of Islamists threatened to burn down a place hosting a gay and lesbian film festival in Jakarta in 2010, Indonesian police came to p

Max Walden – A senior figure from Indonesia's second largest Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah has called for citizens to boycott Starbucks over the fact that its CEO Howard Schultz supports marriag

Gumanti Awaliyah, Jakarta – Since June 26, 2015, Starbucks CEO Howard Mark Schultz has supported equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people.

HRC recently joined a coalition of international organizations and individuals to denounce the growing persecution of LGBTQ people in Indonesia.

Human Rights Watch has issued a letter to the chief of Indonesia's national police General Tito Karnavian urging him to end the targeting of sexual minorities, which it says is creating "anti-gay h

New York – Indonesia's national police force should immediately investigate recent raids by local law enforcement on gatherings of gay men, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to national pol

Max Walden – Three policemen were killed last week in Jakarta by suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State terrorist group.

Ben Westcott, CNN – In less than 18 months, being gay in Indonesia has gone from widely tolerated to just plain dangerous.

General Tito Karnavian, National Police Chief
Jl. Trunojoyo 3, Jakarta 12110
Indonesia

Your Excellency:

Authorities are using the country's wide-reaching anti-pornography laws to prosecute gay men detained in a series of raids.

Shannon Power – Indonesia's LGBTI community has been in the headlines over the past month for all the wrong reasons.