US Special Envoy Cancelled Visit to Indonesia to Discuss LGBTQI+ Rights
- state.gov
VIVA – The United States will send an academic named Jessica Stern to talk about LGBTQI+ human rights in several countries in Asia, from Vietnam, and the Philippines, to Indonesia. Her visit to Indonesia is planned for December 7 to 9, 2022.
"The United States Special Envoy to advance LGBTQI+ human rights Jessica Stern will visit Vietnam from November 28 to December 2, to the Philippines on December 3-6, and to Indonesia on December 7-9," the US government wrote as quoted by state.gov, Thursday, December 1, 2022.
Jessica Stern will meet with government officials and civil society representatives in Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia to discuss the rights of LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, (the + sign represents people who do not identify with a gender or sexual orientation).
"During her visit, the Special Envoy (Jessica Stern) will meet with government officials and representatives from civil society to discuss human rights, including advancing LGBTQI+ human rights," said an official US government statement.
Ilustrasi kelompok LGBT
- VIVA/spectrum.com
Still from the same source, Stern has been a researcher at Human Rights Watch, Ralph Bunche Fellow at Amnesty International, program director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and assistant professor at Columbia University's School of International & Public Affairs.
Furthermore, Stern has served on the LGBTI Reference Group of UNWomen and the Civil Society Advisory Group of the Generational Equality Forum.
Stern has won numerous awards including from Attitude Magazine, Crain's New York Business, Gay City News, and Metropolitan Community Church.
But, Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body on Thursday spoke out against a planned visit by the American LGBTQ rights envoy, saying it would not welcome a guest “whose intention is to undermine our nation’s cultural and religious values.”
Same-gender sex is not a criminal offense in Indonesia except in its Aceh province, but the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation has seen growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment. Therefore, it is not certain whether Jessica Stern’s visit to Indonesia will continue or not.
But according to an official statement from the United States Embassy issued tonight, Stern's plan to come to Indonesia was cancelled.
