Destinations knownIn Bali, LGBT businesses targeted for catering to the gay community and ‘tainting tourism’

LGBT visitors to Bali could be forgiven for thinking that the Indonesian island is a haven of tolerance in an increasingly conservative Muslim-majority nation. “Beautiful landscapes, sandy beaches and [a] friendly gay scene make Bali one of Asia’s most popular gay destinations,” states online travel and lifestyle guide Travel Gay.

However, on January 10, news website Coconuts reported that a villa in the resort town of Seminyak was at the centre of investigations by the Public Order Agency after “allegations surfaced” that it catered to the gay community. “Authorities on the island have since expressed their disapproval based on their belief that homosexuality is against cultural norms in Bali,” stated the article.

The Angelo Bali Gay Guesthouse had an “excellent” rating on TripAdvisor until the listing was recently removed and is described on the Travel Gay website as being an “exclusively gay, clothing-optional resort” located “one block from the gay bars”. It was brought to the authorities’ attention when its Facebook page, which is currently inaccessible, was featured by local news outlets.

“We received a report, including the one on social media about this villa, accommodation or a guest house marketing themselves specifically for the gay community,” I Gusti Agung Ketut Suryanegara, head of the Public Order Agency in Badung regency, told Indonesian-language news portal Tribun. “We will follow up on this issue.”

But what exactly is the issue? Well, according to I Made Badra, who leads Badung’s Cultural Agency, the Angelo’s very existence is “tainting Bali’s tourism”, a view that highlights the prejudices faced by LGBT individuals in Indonesia even though homosexuality is not a crime (apart from the province of Aceh, which enforces strict Islamic law.)