Human Rights Researcher Criticizes UGM's Discriminatory LGBT Ban

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A researcher from Human Rights Watch Andreas Harsono claimed that the circular letter of the Dean of Engineering Faculty of Universitas Gadjah Mada or UGM in Yogyakarta banning Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) from campus is discriminatory and a trigger for persecution.

Andreas urged the campus to revoke the policy for its contradictory nature with the universal standard of anti-discriminatory principles in science.

"[The ban] is discriminatory toward certain individuals and is likely a form of persecution," he told Tempo on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023.

The policy, he went on, contradicted common sense, was baseless, and subjective, risking everybody including people with different gender identities and sexualities protected by human rights principles.

The circular letter could become an instrument for the faculty to arbitrarily sanction students and lecturers with grade reduction, suspension, and removal.

UGM's Engineering Faculty refuses to open itself to science, Andreas said. Science recognized the diverse nature of gender identities and sexualities. This policy would make international universities and organizations hesitant to collaborate with one of the biggest universities in Indonesia, the researcher said.

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