Yuli Rustinawati is the founder and chair of Arus Pelangi, one of Indonesia’s leading LGBT organizations. Photo: www.stonewall25.org.uk
Yuli Rustinawati, 40, is a lesbian who is the founder and chair of Arus Pelangi, one of Indonesia‘s leading LGBT organizations. The award comes amidst a rash on anti-gay rhetoric by political leaders in Indonesia in recent months. During the past three months Indonesian politicians have vowed to criminalize homosexuality; ban LGBT people from receiving education, employment, access to health care, and housing; called for the removal of gay characters on popular TV shows; and called upon tech companies to remove same-sex emojis from smart phone apps and social media. Rustinawati is setting up a foundation for sexual orientation and gender variant human rights defenders that will provide an emergency assistance program for its safe house, relocation assistance, a network with other human rights organizations, and an information and referral hotline. The foundation is also launching “You Are Not Alone,” a campaign to educate people about LGBTs and encourage more gay people to be visible.
On 5 May 2016 the Bay Area Reporter Online (Heather Cassel) published the news that Indonesian LGBT human rights defender Yuli Rustinawati will receive the Felipa De Souza Award 2016 at OutRight’s Celebration of Courage Gala on16 May. Bisexual actor Alan Cumming will host the event and the awards will be presented by celebrity stylist Carson Kressley.
For more on the award see: http://www.brandsaviors.com/thedigest/award/felipa-de-souza-award
For earlier posts on LGBT human rights see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/lgbt-human-rights/
For more information: http://www.alturi.org/indonesia_campaign and http://www.outrightinternational.org/events/celebration-courage-2016.
Source: The Bay Area Reporter Online | Indonesian lesbian activist honored with award
