The rights of LGBT Indonesians came under further fire this week, as multiple government officials made additional moves in a campaign against LGBT people in the country.
On Saturday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated that the government had requested that the United Nations Development Program refrain from funding LGBT organizations in the country, stating that LGBT rights are “not in accordance with the current social values of the nation.” Additionally, according to The New York Times, the country’s broadcasting regulator and child welfare agency have recommended that any programming “advocating” LGBT concerns be ended.
Indonesian authorities have fomented an increasingly hostile environment against LGBT people in recent weeks; government ministers have criticized gay student groups and ordered instant messaging platforms to remove LGBT-themed emojis. On Saturday, Out Leadership Founder & Principal Todd Sears addressed the potential business impact of the deteriorating situation in an op-ed published in The Jakarta Post.
“As multinational corporations and investors continue to commit to adopting policies and building workplace cultures defined by inclusion of LGBT people, an Indonesia where discrimination is touted by public officials or embedded in the law will be increasingly out of step with the global economy,” Sears wrote. “Indonesia’s investors should strongly question the economic implications of anti-LGBT laws and policies.”
Read Sears’s entire op-ed in The Jakarta Post