Asia’s religious laws a violation
Religious laws persecute gay and transgender people in the Asia Pacific region, it emerged at a forum of regional human rights institutions in Yogyakarta, Indonesia this month.
Australia’s representative, Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes, said there were horrific stories of physical violence, exclusions from families, bullying at school and the workplace.
We heard stories of a lesbian in Burma who was raped by her co-workers to cure her of so-called abnormal sexual practices, Innes told SSO.
We heard a story of a gay man and his partner in Indonesia who were detained by police, beaten and humiliated and sexually abused until they signed statements that they would not participate in homosexual acts.
And in Malaysia we heard the story of a transgender woman who was hospitalised after being beaten by a vigilante group and then she was charged for violating the sharia dress code.
Innes said it was a wake-up call to reinforce awareness of the brutality occurring in countries in our region.
He said religious laws that violate the human rights of same-sex attracted and transgender people had to change, but there was no short-term solution.
There are some people in religious organisations with conservative views who are opposed to -˜unacceptable practices’. This is true of Christian religion as much as the Muslim religion.
We need to persuade people that it’s fine for someone to have their own belief based on their religion but it’s not fine to impose that on other people.
The workshop was organised to promote the Yogyakarta Principles.
