We are used to getting harassed on the streets, we hear the rhetoric from the far right and the Republicans but we don’t have vigilantes hunting us down… yet.
But also consider this a warning of what could happen here if the hatred goes unchecked.
Vigilantes Stalk Indonesian Transgender WomenWe sometimes lose sight that no matter how bad Trump is and how much hate he stirred up other places around the world have it a lot worst.
Incident Underscores Sharia Threat to LGBT People
Human Rights Watch
By Kyle Knight
December 18, 2017
Militant Islamist vigilantes targeted a group of transgender women attending a birthday celebration in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Saturday.
The mob alerted the local Sharia (Islamic law) police, who detained seven women in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, for 24 hours, and chastised them for “bad morals” before releasing them.
Everything—from the vigilante-style snooping, to the Sharia police tip-off, to the official shaming—is in accordance with local Acehnese law. Aceh, the only Indonesian province that can legally adopt bylaws derived from Sharia, makes male and female same-sex conduct a criminal offense.
Local officials have made matters worse by aggressively stoking homophobia. In 2013, Banda Aceh mayor Illiza Saaduddin declared that “homosexuals are encroaching on our city.” In February 2016, Saaduddin posted to Instagram a photo of herself holding a handgun and vowing to purge Aceh of LGBT people. That same month, she announced she would create a “special team” to boost public awareness of the “threat of LGBT” people and to “train” LGBT people to “return to a normal life.”
But also consider this a warning of what could happen here if the hatred goes unchecked.
Your last sentence is a very scary thought..
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