International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 2 | Page 20

International Journal of Indonesian Studies

Autumn 2015

Some people believe the word “homosexual” has negative overtones even that it is
demeaning. Most homosexual men and women prefer the words “gay” and
“lesbian”. Either word is acceptable as an alternative to homosexual, but “gay”
should be used only as an adjective. “Gay” as a noun – “gays gathered for a
demonstration – is not acceptable. If you wish to use homosexual, as adjective or
noun, do so. It is also useful, as it applies to men and women.
On the other hand, on their website, the PFLAG Canada16, a Canadian organization that
supports gay communities, describes the word “gay” as follows,
“Gay” is a term that describes same-sex attractions felt by both and women;
however some women prefer the term lesbian. The word “gay” first crossed the
gender/sex threshold in England during the 16th century, when it was applied to male
actors who were cast into female character roles. During the 19 th century, Europeans
associated the term with heterosexual promiscuity; however it did not cross into
sexually diverse communities until much later. Under this meaning, “gay” projected
an impression of perversity. In the early 20th century, American men and women
experiencing same-sex attractions became the first to identify as “gay”, preferring it
to the word “homosexual”, a term used primarily by mental health professionals.
It is clear that “gay” is used to represent selfhood, as in the sentence “I am gay”, “It’s who I
am”, and “It’s what I label myself” (Savin-Williams, 2005, p. 7). Thus, being gay is a source of
pride.
Before I commence discussion of the respondents’ accounts of their migration
through their short stories (short narratives), I will present the traditional history of
homosexuality in Indonesia, including the banning of “homosexuals’” existence based on
the concepts of social representation and the hegemonic gender belief system.
The banality of homosexuality in Indonesian ancient times
Homosexuality in Indonesia grew from a long and complex cultural and historical
background. Its existence has been written in history as a part of Indonesian culture and
tradition (Johan, 2011, p. 199). According to Boellstorff, Indonesia had been aware of the
issue of homosexuality for at least a thousand years. Yet, clearly, as he states: “It is quite
certain that no one in the archipelago called themselves gay or lesbi in the year 900, 1400,
1900, or probably even 1960. Yet by the early 1980s gay and lesbi existed in the archipelago
as nationally distributed subject position” (Boellstroff, 2005, p. 36).

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Retrieved from www.pflagcanada.ca/fr/ on Monday, 16 December 2013.

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As an anthropologist, he categorized traditional/historical Indonesian homosexuality
as an Ethno localized homosexual and Transvestite professional subject Positions (ETP). This
term bonded with the concept of ethnicity and locality. Thus the ETP, as Boellstroff stated,
related to indigenous homosexuality and transgenderism (Boellstroff, 2005, p. 45). The
existence of Bissu in South Sulawesi, the tradition of Warok Gemblak in Ponorogo, East Java,