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man being whipped for having same-sex relations in Banda Aceh, Indonesia on 23 May 2017. |
An
unprecedented wave of police raids, vigilante attacks, and calls for the
criminalization of homosexual sex have left many in the country's LGBT
community fearing for their safety.
The world's
largest Muslim democracy, Indonesia is often considered something of a bulwark
of tolerance amid growing conservatism elsewhere in the Islamic world.
But that
perception is now shifting, amid increasing verbal attacks on minority groups and the growing
implementation of Islamic bylaws by regional governments.
In less than
two weeks, two young men were seized by vigilantes who burst into their home in
Aceh province, then taken to authorities who caned them
for having homosexual sex.
In a
separate incident, later in the month, attendees at an alleged
gay party in a Jakarta sauna were arrested and images of their faces
were disseminated online by Indonesian police.