Indonesian Police Raided A Gay Sauna
Indonesian police raided a gay sauna on Friday and arrested 58 men inside, including several international visitors.
Police raided a building in the capital city Jakarta late Friday night. The police decided on the raid after hearing word that the building was being used to house prostitution.
“We secured 51 and seven employees for allegedly providing pornographic services,” Jakarta Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said in a statement.
Among those men were six foreigners (four Chinese men, one man Thailand, and another from Holland).
Yuwono also stated that six of the 58 will be charged of pornography crimes which could put them in prison for a maximum six years. It’s currently unknown what will happen to the 52 other men.
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This is just the latest in an increasingly hostile Indonesia towards homosexuality and specifically gay men.
Last month, the Indonesian government started to plan out a ban for any gay characters on their television screens. This would not just include fiction gay characters but also any depictions in the news and in documentaries.
Before that in May, 141 men were detained for allegedly taking part in a sex party in Jakarta promoted as “The Wild One.”
Andreas Harsono, senior Indonesia researcher at Human Rights Watch, condemned the arrests.
“This is part of the ongoing anti-LGBT campaign in Indonesia that has been going on since January last year,” he told AFP.
“Human Rights Watch demands police release them and not make up charges against them.”
Keep in mind, it is not illegal to be gay in Indonesia besides in the conservative province of Aceh where gay men are lashed in public. That said, that strict conservative mentality seems to be spreading to the rest of the country as Indonesia is becoming more and more hostile towards gay people.
