Cultural Roots in Gender Expression and Identity Amid Widespread Discrimination in Indonesia

Source: Kucumbu Tubuh Indahku (2018)

On 5 July 2026, President Prabowo Subianto decreed a national defense policy in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) culture and sympathies are hereby considered a non-military threat. While such a controversial act has been criticized not only for criminalizing and dehumanizing minorities, it is also an act that diverts the attention of the public from criticizing President Subianto’s other controversial policies and decisions proclaimed to be for Indonesia’s development. 

Before this policy was instated, many anti-LGBT groups have been going viral on social media for harassing, intimidating, and terrorizing minorities. Take, for example, the hate group known as “boti bersih Bogor” or “boti hunter”, whose members recently beat and threw urine at a local transgender woman. With this new policy in motion, this can mean the justification of any harmful act towards queer minorities, both online and offline. Unfortunately, this hate group has extended its reach across many regions in Indonesia, including Jakarta. 

Many Indonesians believe that LGBTQ+ culture stemmed from Western influences, thus perceiving it as a threat to Indonesian culture and society. However, queer identities and expression have prevailed in Indonesia long before Dutch colonial rule, cementing it as a vital facet of Indonesian culture, identity, and spirituality. 

Source: Rianto by Kanca Nusantara

The term lengger comes from a Javanese phrase diarani leng, jebule jengger, meaning “assumed to be a woman, yet naturally a man.” This term is often associated with lengger lanang, a traditional Javanese dance in which male dancers dress as women. This dance is known to have originated from Banyumas, Central Java, where practices have persisted for centuries. All facets of lengger lanang—the costumes, the makeup, the music, and choreography—have spiritual and cultural significance. This traditional dance is believed to symbolize both masculinity and femininity, appreciating the harmony and balance of both aspects in human life. Furthermore, this dance was once performed as a form of praise and thanksgiving for the harvest, where it involved prayers and ritualistic cleansing before the performance.

Lengger lanang is not the only form of Indonesian art that has inherent queer and cross-gender elements to it. In wayang traditions, there exists a transgender character named Srikandi, whose transition differs between the original Mahabharata text and its Javanese counterpart. In the original Mahabharata text, Srikandi (known as Shikhandi) was born a woman who later transitioned to a man, while the Javanese wayang stories portray her as a woman with dominant masculine traits. In both versions, Srikandi defeats Bisma and becomes the wife of Arjuna, whom she learned archery from. 

While queer and cross-gender traditions are an inherent facet of Indonesian folklore and culture, they are still rejected or stigmatized by many societies in Indonesia.  In a 2021 study conducted by students of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) regarding the public perception of lengger lanang, many dancers still face discrimination due to the widespread belief that a man should not dress as a woman or in a feminine manner, for it is not in his nature. Moch Zihad Islami of the UGM Riset Sosial Humaniora (RSH), or the Social Sciences and Humanities Research, expressed that such perceptions can lead to gender bias in the arts, whereas art is an essential element in conveying a certain society’s cultures and philosophy. 

In hindsight, the term LGBTQ+ had not been used in Indonesia until 2016, when widespread discrimination festered. However, the antagonization of LGBTQ+ culture—by extension, the queer elements of Indonesian culture—may seem contrary to the ideologies of Bhineka Tunggal Ika, meaning unity in diversity. Based on the recent cases of sexual and physical assault against queer minorities in Indonesia, the perpetrators are convinced that they are doing this in the name of morality and religion, and are encouraging others to join them in their “crusade”. In other words, morality, ideological doctrine, and religion are being exploited by hate and radical groups to continuously harm minorities and perpetuate discrimination.

Lengger lanang and the tale of Srikandi are more than venerable Indonesian queer art forms. Preservation begins with an appreciation for the existence of these art forms, for Indonesian identity stems from their spiritual significance—that balance and harmony are found in the acceptance of both aspects of human life, both masculine and feminine, rather than assigning them to a specific sex. To discriminate, condemn, and erase a culture’s identity simply for being different or unaligned with one’s values is to uproot a flower for simply breathing.