Sexual minorities make more space for themselves
(IPS) feature
A gay Indonesian academic had a pleasant surprise in November when the time came to launch his book on homosexuality: He was invited to do so at a respected Islamic university in his country.But that is not all that Dede Oetomo has to smile about. Since its formal release at the Islamic University of Indonesia in Yogjakarta, north of the capital Jakarta, the book has sold out and will go into a second printing next month.
''It has been well received, and I was also surprised when a mainstream publisher approached me to bring it out,'' says Oetomo, a professor of anthropology and linguistics, of his book. Written in Indonesian, it is titled Memberi Suara paasa yang Bisu (Giving Voice to the Mute) .
Equally satisfying for Oetomo, who is on the faculty at Airlangga University in Surabaya, an Indonesian city east of Jakarta, is the surge in interest over the past few weeks for books on gay and lesbian life in his country. ''This is so among the youth and those who are not all gay. They are keen to find out more through literature, short stories,'' he adds.
His account is illustrative of something wider: the space and freedom that those who make up South-east Asia's sexual minorities are increasingly enjoying in their respective countries.
In public, at least, they are finding life ''more conducive,'' says Jessica Umanos Soto, executive director of the Philippine section of the global rights lobby Amnesty International. ''It has become more noticeable over the last 10 to 15 years.''
Trail blazers
Other activists from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines, attending a meeting this week in Yogjakarta, Indonesia to assess the rights situation of gays, lesbians and transgender people, hold similar views.
They say the Philippines, which played host to Asia's first Gay Pride march in June 1994, has blazed the trail in this area. Thailand, Indonesia and, of late, Singapore are also more open to sexual minorities being visible in public.
Still for all, there is a ''distinct difference within the region,'' says Douglas Sanders, who teaches international human rights law and sexuality at the University of British Columbia, Canada. ''There is more broader acceptance of transgender in South-east Asia.''
''In the Philippines and Indonesia, they appear on television shows and hence there is general acceptance of them,'' affirms Sanders. ''Gays and lesbians are also visible but don't enjoy as much visibility.''
Greater public acceptance is also evident in the relative absence of hate crimes against homosexuals as happen in Latin American countries or in places across North America. In Mexico, for instance, reports say that an average of one homosexual is murdered every three days in cases of gay-bashing and that more than 630 murders of gays and lesbians since 1995 remain unsolved.
''Unlike in Latin America or in parts of North America, there is no gay bashing here, but at times there have been few cases of public harassment,'' Saunders explains. ''There is a greater level of tolerance.''
A price to pay
However, this tolerance comes at a price for sexual minorities. Silence at home, according to Saunders, is one price they pay.
''You are not supposed to talk about it in domestic settings,'' he says. ''In Thailand, there appears to be this privacy in the nuclear family. The family will not ask questions and you don't talk about sex or homosexuality.''
So, too, in some of Thailand's neighbours, where being gay or lesbian means facing many domestic social restrictions. These include the difficulty of enjoying recognised same-sex unions and the lifestyle that gay and lesbian couples in, say, Norway or Sweden, enjoy.
Similar social pressure to be quiet about one's sexual identity is the case at work. In Indonesia, says Oetomo, only certain professions enable a homosexual to be open, including the ''typical profession for gay men in beauty parlours and fashion houses''.
''Lesbians have a tougher time,'' he adds. ''It stems from the thinking in Indonesia, how they view women and sex. Women are not supposed to make an issue about sex or be open about it.''
Soto adds that homes have often been the setting for hate crimes directed at sexual minorities. ''There are many stories of girls and boys being abused by their families after revealing their lesbian or gay identity,'' she says.
''Some parents will do anything to bring their daughter back to 'normal', as they say,'' she reveals. ''This has meant, as in the Philippines, to have the girl raped.''
Conspiracy of silence
Such violence has also been highlighted in an Amnesty report, 'Crimes of Hate, Conspiracy of Silence', which looked at torture and ill treatment based on sexual identity. ''Young people who show signs, or who are perceived as showing signs, of same-sex attraction are often at risk of violence in the home and community, the first expression of their sexual identity sometimes attracting brutal chastisement,'' states the report released in mid-2001.
Soto also has evidence of sexual minorities being tortured when in police custody and being discriminated at work.
Ending such abuses will require a commitment from the region's governments, who, according to Soto, have always been reluctant to discuss it openly and prefer to ''ignore the issue''.
This is true of the countries where homosexuality or same-sex unions are not seen as a crime, which is the majority of nations, says Sanders. In only two countries, Malaysia and Singapore, can one face criminal charges for homosexual acts, and even these laws, he adds, have rarely been applied.
Some of these laws were highlighted by the charges brought against former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose was accused among others of sodomy. Supporters of Anwar, who is now in prison, say this was part of a political plot by the government to oust him amid his feud with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and to undercut Anwar's standing with Muslims in the country.
Yet activists are welcoming some signs of change to strengthen the rights of sexual minorities in the region and, in particular, to ensure legal safeguards against discrimination.
In the Philippines, the committee on civil, political and human rights in Congress approved ''in principle'' a comprehensive anti-discrimination bill in December. Lesbian and gay community activists who helped write the bill are now lobbying to get it passed into law.
In Thailand, a member of the human rights commission has said the commission is prepared to hear cases of discrimination against sexual minorities.
''Politicians and policymakers need to be educated about our rights,'' says Dede Oetomo.
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