Tea And Politics 2.0

Coat of arms of the Indonesian city of Surabaya. Image via Wikipedia

More from moderate Indonesia:

An international conference of gays and lesbians, scheduled to run from 26 to 29 March in Surabaya (East Java) has been cancelled due to protests by a group of Muslim extremists, despite the approval of local authorities. The protest took place yesterday in front of the Grand Mercure Hotel in Surabaya hosting the meeting organized by the International Association of gay, lesbian and transgender (ILGA). The police have asked 200 participants to stay at the hotel until the conclusion of the unrest, especially to ensure the safety of foreigners. The conference should have been completed on 29 March. It is the first event for gays and lesbians to be held in Indonesia and the fourth in Asia.

“We are very sorry for the way things went – said Rafael Dakosta, Indonesian ILGA coordinator – we had already prepared everything when the police asked us to stop the conference for security reasons.” Dakosta says he had several discussions with the protesters in an attempt to stop the protest and ensure the safety of foreign participants.

via INDONESIA Java, Conference of gays and lesbians blocked by Islamic extremists – Asia News.

Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs has defended very few days ago Islamic blasphemy law in the country, because if not, they could “stablish new prophets, new religions and new angels“. And they really wanted to do an LGTB meeting in a country like that?