Politicians in Indonesia are planning to force LGBT+ people into rehabilitation camps as part of a new ‘Family Resilience’ law.

A leaked version of the law also says it will outlaw surrogacy and S&M sex.

The bill links homosexuality and sadomasochism to incest as ‘sexual deviations’. Anyone involved will have to report themselves to government-sanctioned rehabilitation centres for ‘treatment’.

If you do not turn yourself in, the authorities will have the right to take your children away, either temporarily or permanently.

Reuters has seen the draft. It says the bill defines the family as the smallest unit of society – made up of married couples, married couples with children, and single parents.

And the draft states wives must ‘take care of household-related matters’ and ‘treat the husband and the child well’.

Hardening of anti-LGBT+ attitudes

At the moment, homosexuality is legal in most of Indonesia. However in Aceh and the city of Palembang, Islamic Sharia law, punishes gay sex with flogging.

However, attitudes have been hardening against the LGBT+ community across the country. Much of this is down to more people supporting Sharia law.

And Indonesian police have misused pornography laws to round up gay and bi men, particularly those using saunas.

Now politicians from four Indonesian parties are backing the new ‘Family Resilience’ Bill.

Parties supporting President Joko Widodo currently control 74% of seats in parliament. Therefore it is now vital to see if the government will support the proposal.

The bill has made it onto parliament’s priority list for the 2020 to 2024 period. But detailed discussions with the government are yet to start.

Supratman Andi Agtas, a member of parliament who heads a body overseeing parliament’s agenda, said the next step is to send the draft bill to the president. After that MPs could start discussing it with related ministries.

Meanwhile, social media and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have already condemned the bill.