The hashtag was offensive enough. #TolakLGBT has been trending in Indonesia in recent weeks, and in Bahasa Indonesia, “tolak” means reject. Then this week Muslim activists held a rally against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights with the message: “LGBT is a disease, not a human right”.

“We reject the LGBT because they asked for equality and legality from the government and it’s getting more and more disarming,” Muhammad Fuad, the leader of the Islamic People Forum (FUI) said. “If legalised, this disease will be more contagious and harmful to our children. Why would they even ask for legality?”

On Tuesday police had shut down a rally held by the Yogyakarta-based Solidaritas Perjuangan Demokrasi (SPD, which translates to Solidarity to Fight for Democracy) in support of equal rights for Indonesia’s LGBT communities at one of the city’s most treasured monuments, Tugu Yogyakarta. But it wasn’t their campaign that filled the dead air in our news cycle that evening, it was the physical confrontation they got into with the local police who were trying to prevent a larger clash with FUI.

This is just one of many anti-LGBT moments that have happened in Indonesia in the past month. But it all started with just one incendiary statement.

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Last month Indonesia’s technology, research and higher education minister Muhammad Nasir said: “LGBT groups [in Indonesian universities] cannot be allowed to grow or be given any space for all of their activities. Especially because of the fact that LGBT communities enter universities by way of resource and research centres.”

Citing “morals” and “values” that Indonesian campuses should uphold, Nasir was responding to a debacle in which the University of Indonesia disassociated its name from a support group dedicated to sexual studies and peer counselling for students struggling with sexual problems, the Support Group and Resource Center on Sexual Studies Universitas Indonesia (SGRC).

Crack open SGRC’s ask.fm account to see how much danger they pose to the country’s sacred morality. Questions, usually asked anonymously, range from how to get out of an abusive relationship to where to get condoms. In Indonesia, morality comes at the expense of thorough sexual enlightenment among our teenagers. It is a country, after all, that just made the social media app Line pull all LGBT-related stickers from its stores.

Nasir’s statement highlights how little acceptance there is for visibility of Indonesia’s LGBT communities. On the other hand, after the media onslaught, the whole fight looks pretty benign: the LGBT community has been accused of parroting the “gay” values of the west.

In the aftermath, however, one member of SGRC was sent away from home and another received threats on her personal ask.fm account, one of which was a petition that all members be expelled from the university. Worried parents of one member would not allow their child in their house; they started getting questions and they were ashamed.

As a country bound by culture and religion, Indonesia’s paranoia over LGBT issues remains important. Discussions about the matter come and go. There was the time when a local celebrity named Sherina tweeted her support for the US Supreme Court ruling that allowed gay people to be legally married in all 50 states. The grievances that followed on her Twitter feed were astounding at best. Many responded with Koran passages – predominantly, the story of Lot – to condemn her. Others plainly called her an idiot and a traitor.

And the current storm in response to Nasir has produced the following responses: the Indonesian Psychiatrists Association has labelled LGBT as a mental disorder; our defence minister, Ryamizard Ryacudu, said that the movement was a proxy “war”; the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission has issued seven warnings against men who promote effeminate behaviour on TV. I can go all day with this – the overwhelming sense is that LGBT people can be guided back to “normalcy”.

These anti-LGBT talking points for religious leaders or government officials look like garden variety conservative cheap shots. Listen to the ways they make their point: they quote scriptures from the Koran/Bible, threaten an increase in Aids, talk of the danger of a dwindling population, and say an affinity to Western products is the main propaganda tool that might trick kids into effeminacy.

Ever since the conversation festered into sheer ridiculousness, numerous ministers in Indonesia have weighed in on the subject. By pointing out that kids are among the most threatened by the “LGBT influence,” the women’s empowerment and child protection minister Yohana Yembise strongly condemns “the promotion of deviant lifestyle”. Many other ministers chose to remain less hostile, but are offensive all the same. Lukman Hakim, our religion minister, said that LGBT people should be “guided, rather than ostracised.”

Censorship is the other key form of silencing. Ranging from a closure of a YouTube channel aimed to facilitate conversations among LGBT communities, to abrupt cancellations of LGBT-related discussions in Indonesian campuses. Censorship is a double-edged sword that serves to remind us that whatever’s being silenced was once spoken; even if it’s dark outside, the lights flicker.

Is it getting better out there? Consider the statistics: according to a report by a local NGO called Arus Pelangi (Indonesian for Rainbow Currents), over 89.3% of LGBT people have been victims of “psychological, physical, sexual, economic and cultural abuse.” Three years ago, the report by the Pew Research Center showed that over 93% of Indonesians are of the opinion that homosexuality should be rejected.

That said, talking about these issues openly is at least progress. “It is indeed a sign of increasing visibility. At least people are now openly talking about it, however derisive their opinions might be. But at the same time, the fight has a long way to go,” said Luna Siagian, one member of SGRC who received threats on her ask.fm account..

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After a petition circulated online demanding that Nasir retract his words, legal organisations including the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) signed a statement in support of LGBT rights in Indonesia. Several other organisations – including Salam UI, University of Indonesia’s Muslim community – gamely voiced their support to the study group.

After seeing how personal the ordeal had become for someone like Luna Sianian (someone went as far as to appeal for her expulsion from the University), I asked her if she is scared: “I am not. I really, really am not. I am well aware of my rights as a student in my campus. I am aware of the fact that [University of Indonesia] has a specific clause that prevents me from being discriminated by my sexual orientation,” she said.

Focusing on how unbecoming the fight has been distracts us from one important point: that it exists. That groups like SGRC exist. That websites such as melela.org, which hosts confessions about people who have come out, or magdalene.co, which specialises in sexual issues and LGBT advocacy, are still running. That there was a petition for Nasir to retract his words. That there are things being censored. That I got to write all of this aided by the support from a lot of people who have spoken out against the censure. That people like Luna are not scared.

I can’t really say for sure whether public acceptance of the LGBT community will ever be widely adopted, but it is nonetheless a noble pursuit. But will we get there eventually? In Luna’s words, “In our society, seeking for public acceptance, especially for the LGBT community is indeed such a foreign concept. But one lives to hope, after all.”