ISLAMIC EXORCISMS USED AS CONVERSION THERAPY AS INDONESIAN CITY MOVES AGAINST LGBT POPULATION

Padang:

An Indonesian city has launched a new campaign to “cleanse” LGBT people of their “social sickness” through religious exorcisms, a move that’s been seen as part of the country’s growing intolerance towards the community.

Local media recently reported that police in Padang had apprehended 18 couples for “psychological support and rehabilitation” — 10 were women identified as lesbians, and eight were transgender.

The belief is that homosexuality and transgenderism are caused by a mental health disorder triggered by supernatural and demonic influences known as “djinn”, which can be cured through a or exorcism, to expel the spirits.

has become the preferred method of conversion therapy partly due to it being permissible in the Islamic religion as well as its portrayal on mainstream national television.

One show — also called — conducts televised exorcisms to allegedly cure an array of physical and mental illnesses. Islamic cleric Aris Fathoni, from the Ruqyah Association for Sharia in Indonesia, told the

that he performs the practice by reading religious verses and hitting his patients with a sapu lidi — an Indonesian broomstick — on their backs.

Thousands of resident in Padang have recently come out to rally in favour of the new initiatives being pushed by the local government. The contacted the Padang Government who declined to comment. ABC