The History of LGBTQ Discourses in Indonesia

There is a prevalent perception that the past colonialization and the
expansion of Christianity have deeply affected the sexual regulations
and norms in the formerly colonized countries. This perspective
unavoidably affects how Christians today see the recent debate on the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) issue. The
most prevailing perspective embraced by many conservative Christian
leaders in the Global South today is that there is a political agenda
from western countries by importing their liberal opinion on sexuality
as a socially-chosen construct and not a naturally-given condition. For
them, this is a new kind of colonialism. By discussing the specific case
of Indonesia, the author argues that this is not always the case. By
tracing back to the history of LGBTQ discourses in Indonesia, he
attempts to show that colonization brought no impact on the recent
LGBTQ debates. The discourses began to thrive in the last twenty
years, mainly due to the internal political dynamics of Indonesia and
the rise of Islamic populism after the 1998 reformation.