ILGA conference in Indonesia cancelled amid fears of trouble from religious groups

Mar 28, 2010 by Asian TS

The 4th Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex regional conference was scheduled for 26th-28th March in Surabaya, East Java. The event has welcomed around 200 representatives from 16 countries to the city, including 2 prominent members of Manila’s STRAP organization.

The East of Java is said to be very religious and apparant pressure from some groups has forced the police to ban the event. This has left some of the visitors trapped in their hotels whilst protesters make themselves heard in the streets. Around 60 Islamic hard liners forced themselves into the Oval Hotel in an effort to force the representatives out of the country so that they would not continue the conference elsewhere.

Police did not intervene which has brought widespread crticism. The group also visited other hotels where members of the conference were staying in an effort to eject people from the country by Sunday. The police said theat they would ensure the safety of the conference members and the group’s leader also stated that there would be no harm done. But for hours many were stranded in their rooms with no news.

Since ejecting foreign memers of the conference it appears that the hard line religious protestors have now forcefully closed the offices of the ILGA conference organizer. The Indonesian government and police will have a lot of questions asked of them now. Like why they allowed a minority group (the LGBT community) get intimidated and bullied out of the country, and why the Indonesian’s that were involved in the conference are having their organization shut down.

for a full article from a reporter on the scene with photos click here