The human rights situation for LGBTQ+ people in Indonesia is deteriorating rapidly, warn activists, in part fuelled by a 2025 national defence policy that lists the “spread of LGBTQ+ culture” among the country’s threats.
Indonesia does not have a national criminal offence expressly prohibiting consensual same-sex relations.
However, LGBTQ+ people continue to face vigilante attacks and discriminatory criminalisation and policing through morality, pornography and administrative laws.
There are also more than 45 discriminatory regional laws and regulations targeting the LGBTQ+ community. In the Indonesian province of Aceh, local Sharia law allows for fining, public caning and jailing of individuals who are found guilty of consensual same-sex relations.
LGBTIQ+ people face growing discrimination
Under these and other provisions, the authorities have repeatedly raided private gatherings and arrested dozens of people perceived to be LGBTQ+.
LGBTQ+ social media groups are also monitored and investigated, and there have been several reported incidents of discrimination against LGBTQ+ students.
Organisations, activists, healthcare providers, legal aid groups and human rights defenders have also faced harassment, doxxing, intimidation and targeting by vigilantes.
In July 2026, the Ministry of Religious Affairs began developing educational materials aimed at preventing the “spread of LGBTQ culture” through religious education, counselling and public outreach. There are also efforts by Islamic authorities to push for the national criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people.
The organisations Arus Pelangi and Kami Berani Coalition documented 23 cases affecting 201 LGBTQ+ people between 16 July and 5 August 2026 alone, describing this as a significant escalation.
‘LGBTQ culture’ listed as a national threat
According to ILGA Asia, this worsening environment is being exacerbated by the adoption, in October 2025, of a Presidential Regulation on the General National Defence Policy 2025–2029, which lists the ‘spread of LGBTQ culture’ among the country’s non-military threats.
The organisation said this creates political and institutional legitimacy for discriminatory policies, surveillance, restrictions and the targeting of LGBTIQ+ individuals and communities.
“When a state places the ‘spread of LGBTQ+ culture’ within its national defence doctrine, it crosses a dangerous line. It takes prejudice that may already exist in society and gives it the vocabulary and authority of national security,” said Henry Koh, Executive Director of ILGA Asia in a joint statement.
“National cohesion cannot be protected by constructing a minority of citizens as something the nation must be defended against. A strong state does not demonstrate its strength by policing difference, but by protecting equal citizenship, human dignity and the rule of law — especially when doing so is politically difficult,” he added.
Arus Pelangi said in the statement that the anti-LGBTQ+ defence policy “has contributed to the institutionalisation of discriminatory narratives and created greater space for LGBTIQ+ identities and communities to be subjected to surveillance, monitoring, and control.”
ILGA Asia calls for policy to be reversed
ILGA Asia called on the Government of Indonesia to remove the classification of the “spread of LGBTQ culture” as a non-military threat from the General National Defence Policy and ensure that national defence, education, public-order and other state policies do not discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics.
It further urged the government to halt measures that stigmatise LGBTQ+ people or portray their identities, relationships, expression and organising as threats to society; review national and regional laws and regulations that facilitate discrimination against LGBTIQ people; and ensure prompt, effective and impartial investigations into vigilante attacks, harassment and other violence against LGBTIQ communities and human rights defenders.
“The Government and the House of Representatives should also reject proposals to criminalise consensual same-sex intimacy or advocacy for LGBTIQ human rights,” said ILGA Asia.
