Indonesia's sexual minorities must prepare for legal battles

New criminal code likely to be weaponized as conservatives gain ground

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Activists protest against Indonesia's new criminal code outside parliament in Jakarta on Dec. 5. © Reuters

Dede Oetomo is founder and trustee of the Gaya Nusantara Foundation, which advocates for LGBTIQ rights from Surabaya, Indonesia.

In 1982, when a few friends and I set up Lambda Indonesia, the country's first gay organization, I learned with a bit of pride that the national criminal code did not criminalize consensual homosexual intercourse between two adults.

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