Click to expand Image A young protester raises a poster, “Today still discriminatory?” with the love rainbow sign during the Women’s March rally in March 2023 in Jakarta, Indonesia. © 2023 Andreas Harsono/Human Rights Watch (London) – Harassment and attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) university students in Indonesia escalated during the June 2026 Pride Month celebrations, Human Rights Watch said today. At least 10 public universities have recently adopted discriminatory regulations and are curbing student media coverage and social media discussions around gender and sexual diversity, undermining freedom of expression.The administrators of these universities should take immediate steps to protect academic freedom and freedom of expression. The government should review and revise laws and policies that facilitate attacks on LGBT people.“Indonesian authorities are looking the other way during an upsurge of attacks on LGBT university students and others,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Indonesia’s universities are contributing to the problem by discriminating against students on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.”In response to Pride Month celebrations, the conservative Indonesian Ulema Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) declared that “sexual deviation” should carry criminal penalties heavier than adultery, and prepared a draft law to criminalize anyone campaigning for the rights of LGBT people.President Prabowo Subianto in October 2025 had signed a decree concerning Indonesia’s national defense policy, which stated that national security threats also come from “non-military factors” including “the spread of LGBT culture.” The decree, which was only made public in early July, called on parents to monitor their children with “this lifestyle.”Human Rights Watch has documented discriminatory regulations as well as arrests, and criminal trials against LGBT people in Indonesia since 2016 after some government officials had condemned a student group on sexual orientation and gender identities in Jakarta’s Universitas Indonesia, a leading university.Arus Pelangi, Indonesia’s LGBT umbrella organization, documented 94 cases of violence targeting LGBT individuals, involving a total of 141 victims in 2024-2025. Nono Sugiono, chairperson of Arus Pelangi, told Human Rights Watch that “Patterns of hate based on gender identity and sexual orientation have been built year after year.”In June, members of Suara Mahasiswa (Student Voice), the student news outlet at the Universitas Indonesia, faced intimidation, doxxing, and stalking following a June 10 article that highlighted human rights violations against LGBT people on campus. University officials summoned Dela Srilestari, the editor-in-chief, and Anita Theresia Silaban, the publisher, and instead of providing protection and support, urged them to remove the content, citing concerns about campus “security” and “reputation.”On June 2, people jeered and harassed a same-sex couple found kissing in the library of the Jakarta State Polytechnic in Depok, West Java. University authorities have said that one of the two, a student at the college, would be punished.In May, Padang State University staff in West Sumatra expelled a student suspected of being gay after a video was circulated online, saying that the university would not tolerate any form of “sexual deviation.”Richa Shofyana, the advocacy coordinator at the Jakarta-based Crisis Response Mechanism Consortium, a coalition of nongovernmental groups, said that there has been a rise in discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity across universities, noting that “there’s still a widespread perception that being queer is a form of moral deviance.”Indonesia maintains at least six national laws and regulations that discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity: the Pornography Law, the Marriage Law, the Government Regulation on Child Adoption, the Electronic Information and Transactions Law, the Criminal Code, and Ministry of Health Regulation No. 2 of 2025. More than 45 anti-LGBT regional regulations are also in effect throughout Indonesia.The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Indonesia is a party, prohibits discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation. The Yogyakarta Principles, an influential but nonbinding statement drafted by human rights experts, provides recommendations for applying recognized human rights law to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.The Indonesian government should act to revise legal provisions that discriminate or facilitate incitement of hostility or violence against LGBT people. Indonesia’s new criminal code, which came into effect in January 2026, is of particular concern, as it further stigmatizes LGBT people and facilitates ongoing rights violations.“Indonesia’s new criminal code and other laws impair the rights of LGBT people beyond the legal system, as is becoming increasingly evident in the country’s universities,” Ganguly said. “University administrators should be the first line of defense against anti-LGBT discrimination that harms students, and the Prabowo government needs to recognize the role it should be playing to ensure that everyone’s rights are respected, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity.”