Excerpted from a report in The Jakarta Globe:
In a country where homosexuality is taboo and where many Indonesians still refuse to acknowledge gay people, it’s especially challenging for an organization such as Violet Grey to operate in Aceh, which is allowed to implement partial Shariah law.
Continuously living in the shadows, gays, lesbians, and cross-dressers are seen as a disgrace to the province’s self-proclaimed “religious society.” Not surprisingly they suffer frequent discrimination and often abusive treatment.
“We were born as Muslim, as Acehnese. Is it true that we are not part of Islam?” asked “Toni,” a gay activist and member of Violet Grey.
“In Aceh, the implementation of Shariah touches on symbols such as headscarves or changing street names to Arabic letters without really addressing people’s desires of prosperity and justice. I think we are in the process of Talibanization.”
Toni grew into his homosexual identity when he was studying at an Islamic boarding school at the age of 14. “I thought by studying in a pesantren [Islamic boarding school] , it would cure my homosexuality.”
He was wrong. “In an Islamic boarding school, where life is segregated by gender, I met my first love,” he said, laughing.
Toni added that when Islamic boarding schools separate boys from girls as a way to prevent promiscuity, it actually enables some boys to discover their homosexual identity.