Authorities in Indonesia arrested 34 men in Surabaya, the country’s second-largest city, later parading them in public to shame them for allegedly hosting a gay sex party at a local hotel.
According to local reports, residents had alerted police to “unusual activity” on one floor of the Midtown Hotel, located in the Ngagel area of Surabaya’s Wonokromo district. Acting on the tip, officers raided the hotel at 11 p.m. on Saturday, October 18, detaining the men in the early hours of Sunday.
The men were taken to Surabaya Police Headquarters for questioning. Officers said they seized evidence during the raid, including contraceptives, mobile phones, and other electronic devices.
A representative for the Midtown Hotel said management was unaware of any sex party taking place on the premises, though they acknowledged the hotel was busy the night of the raid. The representative told local media the person who made the booking had rented two connecting rooms.
The representative also told CNN Indonesia that the incident had harmed the hotel’s reputation but sought to reassure tourists that the property remains committed to guest privacy, safety, and comfort.
Police Grand Commissioner Attendant Edy Herwiyanto, head of the Surabaya Police Criminal Investigation Unit, said the 34 men played varying roles in what authorities dubbed the “Siwalan Party.” Some were identified as participants, while others allegedly served as organizers, financiers, or administrators of what police described as a sex party.
Police said the main organizer created promotional materials and circulated them through social media, including WhatsApp groups. Seven others allegedly acted as assistants, helping spread information, coordinate logistics, and prepare the venue.
On October 22, in a show of authorities’ ongoing crackdown on same-sex intimacy, police paraded the arrested men — dressed in matching orange shirts — before reporters and onlookers snapping photos from behind a cordon. The men were barefoot, their wrists bound with zip ties, and many tried to hide their faces as people attempted to photograph and identify them.
Nanik Sukristina, head of the Surabaya City Health Office, told CNN Indonesia on October 23 that her office had tested all 34 men for HIV, and that 29 tested positive.
Police have not yet announced specific charges, but similar cases have previously been prosecuted under Indonesia’s 2008 Pornography Law.
Indonesia’s Pornography Law has been widely criticized for its broad scope, defining “pornography” not only as explicit depictions of sex but also as acts deemed “indecent” or contrary to “morality” or “community ethics.” The law explicitly bans “deviant sexual intercourse,” a category that includes consensual same-sex relations between adults.
Homosexuality is widely viewed as taboo in Indonesian society.
Police frequently raid suspected LGBTQ gatherings — even when no sexual activity is taking place — and conservative politicians often attack queer visibility to score political points.
The Midtown Hotel raid follows a similar June incident in which 74 men and one woman were arrested for attending a “gay party.” Police also detained nine people during a May raid on a “gay sex party” at a South Jakarta hotel, and 56 more at another hotel in the same city.
After the June raid, Amnesty International urged Indonesian authorities to end what it called “hate-based and humiliating” raids on LGBTQ gatherings, saying they violate people’s rights to privacy and dignity while criminalizing behavior that is not explicitly illegal.
“No one should be subjected to arrest, intimidation, or public shaming because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” the organization said at the time.
Ibrar Nadeem, an aide to Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, bragged to Muslim supporters about the candidate's past opposition to marriage equality during a "Muslims4Jack" event in Piscataway, New Jersey on October 18.
"We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage," Nadeem said, as recorded in a video posted to X.
Nadeem went on to note that Ciattarelli had voted against legalizing marriage equality as a New Jersey state assemblyman and claimed that his preferred candidate would continue to oppose it.
On Sept. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court denied South Carolina's emergency request to enforce its bathroom ban, allowing a transgender boy at a public high school to keep using the boys' restroom while his legal challenge to the law moves forward.
South Carolina pointed to several recent actions by the Trump administration to justify its request, including an executive order threatening to pull federal funding from schools that don't maintain sex-segregated facilities, enforcement actions by the U.S. Department of Education, and the Supreme Court's June ruling upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has pledged to make New York City a sanctuary city for transgender people.
In a new campaign ad honoring Latina trans activist Sylvia Rivera -- a pioneering figure in the early LGBTQ rights movement -- Mamdani sits at a desk near the Christopher Street Pier in Greenwich Village, recounting Rivera’s life and the pier’s significance as a haven for LGBTQ people in the city.
As photos and video clips of Rivera and other activists flash across the screen, Mamdani recounts her legacy of activism -- from her role in early gay and trans rights demonstrations to founding Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, which provided food and shelter for homeless trans people, and her push for LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination laws.
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