Across the world we’re seeing huge leaps forward in acceptance of homosexuality. America, who, like many countries, generally viewed homosexuality as “wicked” since its inception, legalised gay marriage in 2015.
Barely two decades ago, Tasmania still hadn’t decriminalised male-to-male sexual intercourse, but now, although out legal system doesn’t reflect it, an overwhelming majority of Australians support same-sex marriage.
However, that’s not to say other parts of the world are following suit. In fact, some appear to be going the other direction.
Russia enacted a “gay propaganda law” in 2013 and a 2015 Associated Press poll found that Russians’ tolerance of gays had plummeted in recent years.
Similarly, yesterday two gay men received 83 lashes each in the Indonesian province of Aceh under new anti-sodomy laws introduced in 2014.
This was the first time sharia courts had imposed a public flogging for sodomy under their Islamic criminal code, which has maximum punishments of 100 lashes, 100 months in jail or a fine of 1000 grams of gold.
In 2016, 339 people were lashed in the region which has special legal status to insert Sharia bylaws into the criminal code – meaning they can be enforced against Muslims and non-Muslims.
Although no gay men received lashings last year, people accused of gambling and unmarried men and women alone together were flogged. Yesterday, four heterosexual unmarried couples also received up to 30 lashes for effectively kissing and hugging.
On March 28th, vigilantes stormed an apartment to find the men in bed together and circulated a video after taking them to the police.
2500 people gathered to watch three hooded men take turns to flog them, with an announcer warning the crowd – segregated by gender – that no children should be present.
“But the mothers can then tell them at home as education on the enforcing of sharia law,” Fairfax reports he said.
After the canings, the men would be freed, said Endin Saprudin, a sharia police officer at the Aceh provincial administration.
“The worldly punishment is completed after the execution of the sentence,” Mr Endin told Fairfax Media.
“However I don’t know about the punishment of the afterlife – whether or not they will be caned again. At least we have saved some Muslims by showing them such actions are clearly prohibited.”
LGBT rights advocacy group Arus Pelangi’s chairwoman Yuli Rustinawati voiced concerns over not just the lashes, but the fact it was in front of so many people.
“Can you imagine the caning being carried out in front of so many people?”
“Obviously it is painful to be caned but then many people are watching. It creates another pain psychologically, not only for the offenders but also for their families.”
Aceh is the only one of Indonesia’s Muslim-majority 34 provinces that criminalises homosexuality, and late last year President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo defended the right of the country’s beleaguered LGBT community.
Despite then declaring that “there should be no discrimination against anyone” and insisting police act on the discrimination faced by LGBT people, Widodo didn’t intervene.
Aceh was given the right to impose sharia-inspired law in 2001 by central Indonesian government to stop a decades-long separatist movement in the province.
However, Ayi, a Banda Aceh resident who lives near one of the gay men caned, said the punishment was just more violence.
“We had 30 years of conflict. But now we have this,” she told Fairfax Media.
