I know of a lesbian wedding in Lawang, East Java, which was presided over by a scholar from one of the local Islamic universities.
This is not to say that these weddings no longer occur. Of course neither wedding was a legal event but the one in Bali happened at a time when the conservatives were becoming increasingly anxious. And the Balinese wedding occurred right after the US Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. The wedding in Jakarta was between two Indonesian women, while the wedding in Bali was between an Indonesian and a foreigner, an American. But there are a number of important differences between this and the recent wedding in Bali. There was one long article in Tempo, and then it was picked up by Majalah Liberty in Surabaya and another couple of media outlets. This would probably never happen now, even in a liberal magazine like Tempo, considering the scandal that erupted last year when photos emerged of a gay wedding in Bali. This lesbian wedding was covered in Tempo magazine in 1981. People already know that things are in a mess, but when the mess starts to want legitimacy, when it starts to organise, that’s when they get really frightened. Challenges to this order are perceived as threatening. It also relates to the appearance of order that is so crucial in high Javanese society. The heteronormative template – Julia Suryakusuma would call it State Ibuism – that was so vigorously promoted by the New Order is being disrupted. I agree with Ariel Heryanto’s analysis that it relates to old New Order ideas being disturbed. It is important to note that in this instance, the panic is not being driven solely by conservative Islam. There were earlier indications of this, for example in anti-same sex marriage statements from former Nahdlatul Ulama head Hasyim Muzadi, members of the national legislature, and the former Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali. I suspect, quietly in their living rooms, conservative families were becoming anxious. Elton John got married, Ricky Martin came out. Then in about the mid-2000s, we started to see more news from overseas. Two lesbians married in Jakarta in 1981 and I came out right after that and was in a magazine every month.
If we look back to the 1980s and 1990s there were only a few examples of gay people in the public sphere in Indonesia. I think we have been building up to this for a while. Some people believe the whole thing has been planned, but I am not so sure. It could have been triggered by anyone, there is no particular reason why Muhammad Nasir, the minister of higher education, research and technology, was the one who started it. What do you think is behind the current panic? Even waria (Indonesian transwomen), who have historically been accepted (under certain conditions), have been targeted. Indonesia has witnessed a sustained attack on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community over the past two months. Dede Oetomo founded Indonesia’s first gay rights organisation, Lambda Indonesia, in the early 1980s.
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