Across vast Muslim world, LGBTQ people remain marginalized

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — On the outskirts of Yogyakarta, an Indonesian city that’s home to many universities, is a small boarding school with a mission that seems out of place in a nation with more Muslim citizens than any other. Its students are transgender women.

It is a rare oasis of LGBTQ acceptance – not only in Indonesia, but across the far-flung Muslim world. Many Muslim nations criminalize gay sex — including World Cup host Qatar. LGBTQ people routinely are rejected by their families, denounced by Islamic authorities, hounded by security forces, and limited to clandestine social lives. Appeals for change from LGBTQ-friendly nations are routinely dismissed as unwarranted outside interference.

Yogyakarta's Al-Fatah Islamic school was founded 14 years ago by Shinta Ratri, a trans woman who struggled with self-doubts in her youth, wondering if her gender transition was sinful.

She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology, then devoted herself to enabling other trans women to study Islam. Initially, there were 20 students at the school, and now about 60 – many of them middle-aged.

Among them is Y.S. Al Buchory, 55, who struggled for years to cope with lack of acceptance by people around her, but now feels at home at the school and hopes tolerance spreads through her country.

“Like a rainbow, if there are red, yellow, green colors combined, it becomes more beautiful, rather than only black and white,” she said. “We must be able to respect each other, tolerate, not interfere with each other.”

Compared to many Muslim nations, Indonesia is relatively tolerant. Scores of LGBTQ organizations operate openly, advocating for equal rights, offering counseling, liaising with religious leaders. Only one conservative province, Aceh — which practices Sharia law —...