Indonesia says there is "no room" for the LGBT movement in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, as activists blast officials for an unprecedented series of attacks.

Key points: Human Rights Watch (HRW) says LGBT rights have deteriorated

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says LGBT rights have deteriorated HRW links the change to condemnation from politicians, religious groups

HRW links the change to condemnation from politicians, religious groups HRW says violence against LGBT people has intensified

A wave of angry rhetoric directed at homosexuals earlier this year — including a call to ban them from university campuses — was the first time senior officials had publicly attacked the South-East Asian nation's gay community, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.

Indonesia's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens have long been targeted by vigilante Islamist groups.

But the community experienced an "immediate deterioration" in their rights following a condemnation from ministers and influential Islamic organisations over a two-month period, HRW said.

President Joko Widodo's spokesman Johan Budi said protecting LGBT rights was not a priority.

"Rights of citizens like going to school and getting an ID card are protected, but there is no room in Indonesia for the proliferation of the LGBT movement," he said.

Some of the most high-profile figures making anti-gay statements during the backlash were Government ministers.

The higher education minister called for a ban on LGBT organisations on university campuses, while the defence minister likened homosexual rights groups to a "type of modern warfare".

In its report, HRW said "what began as public condemnation quickly grew into calls for criminalisation and 'cures', laying bare the depth and breadth of officials' individual prejudices".

An anti-LGBT Muslim group marches to blockade protesters in Yogyakarta. ( AFP: Suryo Wiboyo )

Violence against sexual minorities intensifies

The spike in anti-LGBT vitriol, predominantly during January and February this year, has intensified violence against sexual minorities throughout Indonesia, the report said.

Indonesia's largest Muslim group, Nahdlatul Ulama, in February described gay lifestyles as perverted and a desecration of human dignity.

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In Aceh, the only Indonesian province that applies Islamic law, the local government urged business owners to refuse to hire gay citizens.

In interviews with activist groups, HRW reported gay rights organisations shut their offices and even hid staff as threats mounted against them.

In Yogyakarta an Islamist group forced the closure of a transgender Islamic boarding school, while a peaceful rally in the same Central Javan city in support of Indonesia's LGBT community was shut down.

"The impact of anti-LGBT rhetoric from government officials is enormous for us as individuals. For those of us who have worked so hard and risked so much to come out, it is a major step backward," a lesbian activist in eastern Indonesia told HRW.

Islamic activists have also filed a judicial review at the Constitutional Court aimed at making gay sex a crime, and the court is currently holding hearings into the case.

AFP