Indonesian gays fight back

Indonesia's fledgling LGBT group, Arus Pelangi (Rainbow Flag), last Monday launched a national campaign against a welter of ultra-homophobic regional statutes based on Muslim Sharia law.

"Many LGBT people are arrested and detained, often without charges or clear reason, only to be released after a few days," said Widodo "Dodo" Budi Darmo, the 35-year-old director of campaigning for Arus Pelangi, which was formed in January this year as Indonesia's first explicitly activist LGBT group on the legal and political fronts.