Milestone for gay rights as Indonesia gets first pink guidebook

Milestone for gay rights as Indonesia gets first pink guidebook
John Aglionby, south-east Asia correspondent
Friday April 28, 2006
Guardian

For decades, gay venues in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore were forced to operate secretly because of official disapprobation and cultural-religious sensitivities.
But now the acceptance of a homosexual lifestyle in the region has passed a major milestone with the publication of the first gay guidebook to the three countries.

The Utopia Guide to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia seeks to "shine a light on an aspect of society that exists in every country around the globe, but has been mostly in the shadows here in Asia", according to its publisher, John Goss.

The book features everything from gay bars in Indonesia to bathhouses in Malaysia and an array of clubs, massage parlours and cultural attractions.

Gay activists are confident there will be little backlash. "In recent years we've been more and more open," Dede Oetomo, an Indonesian gay activist, told the Guardian.

"Conservative religious groups know where to find us and they leave us alone. I think, if anything, the bigger problem will be cultural because many families still don't accept a gay lifestyle."