(still from Strange World)
Gay Men Publicly Flogged For Having Consensual Sex
(screen capture via YouTube)Two men, aged 27 and 29, were publicly caned 77 times each in Indonesia on Thursday after being reported to the authorities for having consensual sex.
The public flogging, held in a public park in Indonesia’s Aceh province, was attended by dozens of people. Public whippings usually attract hundreds of viewers but the crowd was kept small due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In 2015, Aceh became the only province in Indonesia to adopt religious-based Shariah law. Today marked the third time caning has been used as punishment for homosexuality.
According to the Associated Press, the two men were whipped with a rattan cane by a team of five ‘enforcers’ wearing hoods and robes. The enforcers rotated every 40 strokes in delivering the punishment while the men winced in pain.
Neighbors of the men became suspicious of their relationship and broke into their home in November as the two were reportedly having sex.
A Shariah court ordered the men to receive 80 strokes each but the punishment was reduced as a concession for time spent in prison.
Warning: graphic footage some may find disturbing.
Shariah law allows caning as punishment for ‘moral offenses’ which include drinking, gambling, adultery, men who miss Friday prayers, women who wear suggestive clothing, and those who engage in gay sex. The maximum penalty is 100 lashes.
In addition to the two men, four others received 17 lashes for having extra-marital affairs and 40 strokes for drinking alcohol.
Indonesia has long been a difficult country for LGBTQ people. While Aceh is the only region where homosexuality is explicitly outlawed, authorities have continued to crackdown on the LGBTQ community in recent years.
In 2016, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission banned men from appearing ‘effeminate’ or dressing in drag.
In February 2018, police raided 5 hair salons, forced 12 trans women to strip and cut off their hair in public before arresting them.
In July 2018, the first public caning of gay men took place in Aceh before a crowd of over 1,000 residents. The mob cheered and shouted insults at the two men aged 20 and 23 as they received 85 lashes each.
That same month police arrested 141 men in a raid on a sauna.
And in November 2018, police conducted a beach raid in an effort to ‘provide safety and maintain public order.’ Three transgender women were arrested and hosed down with a fire truck in public to underscore the humiliation.
Reports Of Britain’s ‘Most Prolific Rapist’ Sparks Anti-LGBTQ Raids
No more carefree days for serial rapist Reynhard Sinaga (image via Facebook)
Reynard Sinaga (mugshot via Greater Manchester Police)
News Round-Up: December 27, 2019
(image via Instagram/Chippendales)
• Washington Blade: Amid speculation Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will leave his position to pursue his old job as U.S. senator in Kansas, Donald Trump is considering U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell – who’s also the highest-ranking openly gay person in his administration – as a replacement. • NY Times: Foreign teachers at some private schools in Indonesia have been required to answer questions and many more like them in what has been billed as a psychological exam to determine teachers’ sexual orientation and attitude toward gay rights. A 2015 government regulation prohibits international schools from hiring foreign teachers who have “an indication of abnormal sexual behavior or orientation.” • HuffPost: Donald Trump likes to brag that he donates his $400,000 annual salary as president to charities. But according to folks tracking the Trumpster’s golf habit, his passion for the links has now cost taxpayers $118 million – or about 296 years of that presidential salary. Remember when he said if elected he’d “never leave the White House…?”
GOLF UPDATE — 27 DEC 2019:
Trump is at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. He has now spent 232 days on a golf course he owns in his 1,072 days in office. It is his 67th day at his course in West Palm Beach. Taxpayer-paid golf tab: $118.3 million.https://t.co/acbH3EXZ5s — S.V. Dáte (@svdate) December 27, 2019
News Round-Up: November 22, 2019
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunk: Paleontologist Dr. Francesc Gascó (above) is also a bit CrossFit fan. This totally says TGIF to me. • KIT212: Kenneth has the low-down on what’s what in gay rags across the country. • Agence France-Presse: Several government ministries in Indonesia are banning LGBT job hunters in favor of what one called “normal” applicants, the Ombudsman said Friday. Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of some 260 million, has seen a jump in discrimination against gay and transgender people in recent years. • ABC News: Florida officers encounter a strange scene – a car circling in reverse with the owner’s dog Max inside. The dog’s owner had made a wrong turn, pulled over and got out of the car leaving the dog inside, who somehow hit the gear shift putting the car in reverse.
DRIVING DOG: Florida officers encounter a strange scene: a car circling in reverse—with the owner’s dog Max inside.
Officers eventually manage to rescue Max by entering a code on the car door’s keypad to stop the vehicle. https://t.co/89Clt0UVoe pic.twitter.com/8YlsRKwgSB — ABC News (@ABC) November 22, 2019
Indonesia: Over 373 Killed After Deadly Tsunami
At least 373 people (figure updated since the above report) were killed after a tsunami struck Indonesia over the weekend, and fears are high that more massive waves could be on the way.
That’s because the volcano that triggered the tsunami is still erupting.
Survivors described fleeing for their lives from the wave that crashed — without warning — through beach resorts, homes and businesses. It washed away a pop band that was performing near the beach.
Hundreds were injured and more than two dozen people are missing.
Indonesia’s President ordered the country to buy tsunami early warning detectors. Despite a history of deadly tsunamis, Indonesia hasn’t had an effective early warning system for years.
LGBTQs In Indonesia Face Harsh Treatment In Police Crackdown
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| Women hosed down in public via fire truck (image via Twitter/AndreasHarsono) |
Even though it is not explicitly illegal to be homosexual in Indonesia, police and local vigilantes have recently taken severe actions against LGBTQ people.
Last Friday, police conducted a beach raid in the town of Lampung reports Gay Star News. The raid, conducted in an effort to ‘provide safety and maintain public order,’ resulted in the arrest of three women suspected of being transgender.
In a statement, Indonesian police said, “The growing issue of [LGBT] behavior has troubled the public. Almost every day we get reports from the public regarding this LGBT issue.”
Upon their arrest, the three women were humiliated by being publicly hosed down using a fire truck.
Officials called this a ‘mandatory bath’ or ghusl, which is done to cleanse the body after sex or at the end of a menstrual cycle.
Police officials took photos of the women during the public humiliation and posted them to social media.
In Lampung, Indonesia, three transwomen were arrested and hosed down with fire truck for ‘impurity cleansing’ https://t.co/vLipFi57SK— Andreas Harsono (@andreasharsono) November 5, 2018
Local and international human rights organizations denounced the hideous treatment.
Amnesty International’s Executive Director, Usman Hamid, issued a statement which read, in part, “The humiliation of these three transgender women is appalling and constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment which is absolutely prohibited under international law.”
“Raiding people and using a fire truck to hose them down in public are totally unacceptable, as is any other act of violence and discrimination against transgender women or other LGBTI people,” he continued.
According to Gay Star News, authorities began a crackdown on LGBTQ people in 2006 as conservative Islamic groups have gained more and more influence.
In addition to the arrest of the three women, the next day police arrested 10 women suspected of being lesbian due to a photo posted on social media of two women hugging.
On October 19, a gay couple were arrested for launching a gay-themed Facebook page titled, Gay Bandung. The men were charged with “distributing electronic information which contain violation decency.”
And on October 31, two women were arrested for being in a lesbian relationship by police in West Pasaman, West Sumatra.
The same police arrested six people suspected of being transgender earlier that month.
Authorities reportedly said the police actions were, “To ensure that the city is clean from LGBT.”
(h/t Gay Star News)
News Round-Up: January 19, 2018
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| (image via Instagram) |
Some news items you might have missed:
• Can we start the weekend admiring Nick Jonas (above) admiring his NY Yankees hat in the background? #TheresAHat?
• Indonesia’s IT Ministry is asking Google to block LGBT-related networking apps.
• Check out the newly-announced list of nominees for the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards here.
• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will be a guest judge on an upcoming episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” #YouBettaWerk
All I can say is, you betta werk! Had a fabulous time with @RuPaul and good luck to all the queens. #DragRace https://t.co/ZrJDyDmuVh— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) January 18, 2018
• And speaking of, on the latest episode of Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations podcast, RuPaul shares what he’s learned from drag: “What it teaches people is that all things are temporary. Everything’s temporary: just clothes, some paint, powder – this body, even, is temporary.”
• The FBI is looking into whether a top Russian banker funneled money through the National Rifle Association to help elect Donald Trump. It’s illegal to use foreign funds to influence federal elections, and the NRA spent $30 million on Trump’s behalf in 2016.
• Warning: NSFW – Fischerspooner shares their new single and music video, “TopBrazil,” from their upcoming album, Sir, produced by Michael Stipe due out February 16.
In the video, shadow and light create a collage of naked male bodies becoming one, all the while blurring the lines of masculinity and femininity.
Spooner explains, “The video celebrates a pop aesthetic typically reserved for the female archetype and liberates the male form to be sexual, expressive and fearless.”
I think it’s a very cool video, but again – Adult Content.
Indonesia: Two Gay Men Receive 83 Lashes For Having Consensual Sex
Two men received 83 lashes with a cane in Indonesia’s ultra-conservative Aceh province today for the crime of having consensual sex in the privacy of their home.
The men, aged 20 and 23, became the target of vigilantes when in March neighbors barged into an apartment, harassing the men, filming them with the intention of shaming them publicly.
This is the first incidence of gay men being caned under Sharia law in the province.
The public torture began at 9AM local time today and ended four hours later.
Throughout the punishment, locals cheered the canings.
One of the men was in his final year of medical school, but his hope of becoming a doctor is gone now. The school has kicked him out.
The student told the BBC, “I just want the caning to be over and to go back to my family, I have been deeply depressed. I am trying to pull myself out of a deep black hole.”
