Gay man from Indonesia reveals RuPaul’s Drag Race ‘keeps him alive’
Courtney Act rose to fame on season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race. (Jeff Spicer/Getty)
A “closeted” gay man from Indonesia has revealed on Reddit that RuPaul’s Drag Race helped him through the “lowest point” of his life.
The 21-year-old fan from Jakarta also said that Drag Race “is one of [the] things that keeps me alive,” explaining that Indonesia is not progressive when it comes to LGBT rights.
His Reddit post is titled: “RuPaul drag race is one of things that keeps me alive RN. I’m 21 years old closeted gay guy from Jakarta, Indonesia, living with anxious and don’t really have friend that i can rely to talk about it.”
(Reddit/BugInUrPants)
“I’ve been knowing RPDR since season 8, then i watch the previous seasons and All Star,” he wrote.
“I found out about this show when i was in my lowest point of my life and this show has been helping me through all that.”
The Redditor went on to open up about being in his second year in college, majoring in computer science, though admitted that “things are getting harder” and making his anxiety worse.
He continued: “The fear of failing in classes and organisations also facing the next semester leads my mind to afraid of not getting job in the future which make it even more difficult to come out and live the life i want (Indonesia isn’t a progressive country who can accept the LGBTQ++ community, so to meet people who can accept me in the future I think I need to live at least in middle class society).
Related: Who is RuPaul? The man redefining drag for a generation
“I don’t really make friend IRL because i just want to be friend with open minded person who can accept my sexuality and i have none so far, i tried Grindr and Jackd recently but most of the user in my area are still in the closet, only looking for hook up and the worst thing is racist (there’s a lot of people who put no sissy, no fat, masc4masc, etc in their profile).”
He finished the post: “I just want to share with you guys how it feels like being RPDR fan in Indonesia, i always jealous with people from Twitter or Tumblr when they share their inner queer and have people irl who support them. Also if you are from Jakarta maybe we can do a marathon of RPDR later?”
While homosexuality has never been illegal in Indonesia, attitudes towards LGBT people have become more extreme across the country in recent years despite a growing gay population.
The Indonesian Psychiatrists Association classifies homosexuality, bisexuality and being transgender as illnesses.
(Getty)
There is also a growing movement in the country to ban gay sex.
A bill with the support of most of the country’s main political parties is making its way through the legislative process.
Amendments have been accepted by the House of Representatives, but the whole parliament must sign off on the bill before it makes its way to the president’s desk.
Meanwhile, gay sex in Indonesia will not be publicly punished with lashings anymore – but men will still receive the punishment behind closed doors.
Aceh, the only region of the secular country where Sharia law is in effect, will continue to conduct the barbaric practice, which saw two men caned 83 times last year for consensual sex.
