LGBT Rights Under Siege in Indonesia

SEA Junction is collaborating with APCOM (www.apcom.org) and Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Southeast Asia (th.boell.org) to organize a public lecture by renowned Indonesian LBGT activist and Chair of APCOM, Dédé Oetomo on 29 November 2016 at 5-7pm at SEA Junction, Suite 408, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre 939 Rama 1 Road, Wangmai Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

He will provide an in-depth analysis of the wave of attacks to LGBT people and communities in the context of the current socio-political and religious situation of Indonesia. The lecture will also serve as a side event to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) World Conference to be held in Bangkok on 28 November to 2 December 2016. Other Conference participants will be invited to be active discussants from the audience at SEA Junction’s public lecture so as to place Indonesia into a wider regional context and enhance understanding of the dynamics of Southeast Asian societies through the dimension of diverse sexualities and genders.

Dédé Oetomo is a Founder and Trustee of GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation (www.gayanusantara.or.id) in Surabaya, Indonesia. He currently also chairs the Regional Advisory Group of the Asia-Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (www.apcom.org), and is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Coalition on Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (www.csbronline.org). He received his PhD in linguistics and Southeast Asian studies at Cornell University in 1984. He is an adjunct lecturer in gender and sexuality at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences and the Faculty of Humanities at Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya. He received the Felipa da Souza Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in 1998.

For a recent article in the New York Time about Dédé Oetomo visit <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/world/asia/indonesia-gay-rights-dede-oetomo.html?_r=0>.