No Drag Allowed

Indonesia Just Banned “Effeminate” Men And Drag Queens From Television

rupauls-drag-race-season-8

Indonesia just banned ‘effeminate’ men and men dressing in women’s clothing on TV, so we’re guessing that pretty much kills any chance of RuPaul’s Drag Race being syndicated in the Muslim-majority country.

We guess Ru’s just gonna grab those checks elsewhere.

A directive from the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) was issued after receiving complaints from viewers, and it bans:

  • Men wearing feminine fashion
  • Men wearing feminine make-up
  • Feminine body language exhibited by men, including, but not limited to, walking style, sitting style, hand gestures and other behaviors
  • Men speaking in a feminine way
  • Depicting justifications or promoting that men can behave effeminately
  • Depicting a man greeting another man in ways that are supposed to be for women
  • Depicting terminologies and colloquial terms that are often used by effeminate males.

On its website, KPI said:

“KPI assess these things are not in accordance with the respect for the norms of decency and morality in society and the protection of children and adolescents.

Airing this content thus can encourage children to learn and/or justify inappropriate behavior such as common in everyday life.”

The move is the latest in an uptick of antigay behavior in the country.

Gaystarnews reports that their largest Islamic group wants to criminalize gay sex and LGBT activism, and their defense minister said the movement was more dangerous than nuclear warfare.

We don’t know about all that, but it looks like TV just got a lot more boring in Indonesia. It’s their loss, but perhaps the gays in those parts can just stream all the LGBT content they need online. However, they may want to watch their backs.

This step is probably the first of many more troubling actions to come.

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