Before Grindr, Indonesia’s LGBT folk used zines to search for love, friendship
- LGBTQ zines, containing content from singles ads to poems, were distributed across the Indonesian archipelago during the 1980s and 1990s
- Tolerance of LGBTQ folk has fallen since, with politicians in recent years becoming more vocal about Islam playing a large role in the state
When Indonesian researcher Ais last year came across a trove of retro LGBTQ zines in Bali, he was taken by the significance of the find.
“Suddenly, it felt like I was a part of something bigger than myself,” said Ais, 29, who does not want to reveal his full name due to the sensitivity of the matter, of his discovery of the zines. “Turns out I have a history.”
LGBTQ zines, or community-based publications printed in small batches, were distributed across the Indonesian archipelago during the 1980s and 1990s, a sign of more permissive times in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.
The country has over time become less tolerant of the LGBTQ community, with some politicians in recent years being more vocal about Islam playing a large role in the state.
The discovery of the LGBTQ zines gave Ais and Beau Newham, an Australian who works in HIV prevention and support, the impetus to digitise as many copies as they could to give the publications a second lease on life online. Their website, Queer Indonesia Archive (QIA), went live last June.
