Indonesia mulls ban on LGBT TV content

JAKARTA: Days after a long-running local TV comedy aired last month, its producers got a letter from the broadcast commission warning that a male character in the show was “dressed and behaving like a woman” and could violate broadcasting standards.

“We evaluated the show ... we immediately reminded our staff to be careful because we are minimising LGBT content on our network,” said Anita Wulandari Prasojo, head of marketing and public relations at Trans7, the private television station that aired the show Opera van Java last month.

She may have to do more than that in the future. Indonesia’s parliament is considering national legislation that would ban lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) content from TV screens by the end of the year.

The draft bill, which Reuters reviewed, would revise the broadcasting law to scrub content with “LGBT behaviour”.

Broadcasts and advertisements that show “LGBT behaviour” would be banned. It does not explicitly define “LGBT behaviour”.

Lawmakers said the ban could include dramas with gay characters, traditional folk or comedic performances with cross-dressing or “effeminate” men, and broadcasts advocating LGBT rights.

It would be the latest measure targeting the LGBT community in a rising tide of hostility in the world’s third-largest democracy.

Indonesian police last week briefly detained 51 people, including eight foreigners, at a “gay spa” in Jakarta, one of several raids targeting the LGBT community.

“LGBT is not criminal, but if it enters the public sphere, if it’s broadcast to the public, then of course it must be regulated,” said Bobby Rizaldi, a member of parliament involved in drafting the law.

Another MP, Hanafi Rais, said “LGBT is an abnormality”.

“It is destructive for our younger generations. If the content has no educational qualities, and is only for commercial or advertising purposes, then we must reject it,” Hanafi said.

If the content was aimed at “fixing the abnormality”, then it would be allowed, he added.

The United Nations human rights office on Friday condemned anti-gay crackdowns in Indonesia, Egypt, and Azerbaijan.

“Arresting or detaining people based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity is by definition arbitrary and violates international law,” UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing. – Reuters