Shinta Ratri, fighter for transgender rights in Indonesia, dies at 60

The Islamic boarding school she helped found provides refuge for transgender women in a country where discrimination can be acute.
Shinta Ratri, the leader of an Islamic boarding school that provides refuge for transgender women in Indonesia, died on February 1 in Yogyakarta, a city on the Indonesian island of Java. She was 60 years old.
School colleague Rully Malay said the cause of her death, in hospital, was a heart attack.
Mrs. Shinta, who had transitioned as a teenager, founded the school, Pesantren Waria al-Fatah, in 2008 with two colleagues as a retreat and place of prayer. For transgender women in this predominantly Muslim country, discrimination is particularly acute in mosques, where men and women typically pray separately.
“In the public mosque, we made people uncomfortable. We needed a safe place for trans women to pray," Ms Shinta told the Guardian in 2017.
"Here you can be with clothes women's or men's wear, it's up to you,” she added. "It depends on your comfort."
Up to 40 students at a time have attended the school, many of whom live there as boarders. They are taught the prayers and understanding of the Quran, and they join in regular prayer services.
"Shinta was, and still is, the face of the movement of waria rights. She's all over the internet,” said Georgie Williams, founder of “/Queer,” a podcast devoted to gender issues.
Transgender women in Indonesia are known as the name of waria, an appellation that combines the words for woman (wanita) and man (pria).
In an interview with Ms Williams in 2019, Ms Shinta said :
"We have a dream for them to be on welfare in their old age." There are health checks, psychology, spiritual cleansing, entertainment activities such as farming, hobbies, exercise for the elderly - the most important thing is financial assistance for the rental of a house and a packet of nutritious food. »
Mrs. Perhaps Shinta's greatest contribution has been spiritual guidance.
"The first thing I say to every trans woman who comes here is that 'Being a trans woman is not a sin,' she said. in a video interview for Vice Media in 2021. “In this world, it's not just men and women that exist. There is us. We trans people exist too."
Her words resonated with marginalized and self-doubting transgender women across the country.
"What she does is give humanity back to the trans women's community," Mario Pratama, an Indonesian L.G.B.T.Q. organizer, said in a sponsored video by Front Line Defenders, a human rights organization that honored Ms Shinta in 2019.
Over 80% of Indonesians are Muslim, and although the religion takes on a particularly tolerant form there, militant Islam is on the rise, and he has pressured the government to become more rigid.
The country took a step back from liberalism in December with the passage of a new law that bans sex outside marriage and imposes strict new limits to freedom of expression.
The new rules pose a challenge to transgender women and could be used to target same-sex couples in a country where they are prohibited by law to marry.
"Indonesia's new penal code contains oppressive and vague provisions that open the door to invasions of privacy and selective enforcement", Andreas Harsono, researcher principal on Indonesia at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Transgender women face widespread discrimination in seeking employment and are generally for ...

World Feb 26, 2023 0 65 Add to Reading List

Shinta Ratri, fighter for transgender rights in Indonesia, dies at 60

The Islamic boarding school she helped found provides refuge for transgender women in a country where discrimination can be acute.

Shinta Ratri, the leader of an Islamic boarding school that provides refuge for transgender women in Indonesia, died on February 1 in Yogyakarta, a city on the Indonesian island of Java. She was 60 years old.

School colleague Rully Malay said the cause of her death, in hospital, was a heart attack.

Mrs. Shinta, who had transitioned as a teenager, founded the school, Pesantren Waria al-Fatah, in 2008 with two colleagues as a retreat and place of prayer. For transgender women in this predominantly Muslim country, discrimination is particularly acute in mosques, where men and women typically pray separately.

“In the public mosque, we made people uncomfortable. We needed a safe place for trans women to pray," Ms Shinta told the Guardian in 2017.

"Here you can be with clothes women's or men's wear, it's up to you,” she added. "It depends on your comfort."

Up to 40 students at a time have attended the school, many of whom live there as boarders. They are taught the prayers and understanding of the Quran, and they join in regular prayer services.

"Shinta was, and still is, the face of the movement of waria rights. She's all over the internet,” said Georgie Williams, founder of “/Queer,” a podcast devoted to gender issues.

Transgender women in Indonesia are known as the name of waria, an appellation that combines the words for woman (wanita) and man (pria).

In an interview with Ms Williams in 2019, Ms Shinta said :

"We have a dream for them to be on welfare in their old age." There are health checks, psychology, spiritual cleansing, entertainment activities such as farming, hobbies, exercise for the elderly - the most important thing is financial assistance for the rental of a house and a packet of nutritious food. »

Mrs. Perhaps Shinta's greatest contribution has been spiritual guidance.

"The first thing I say to every trans woman who comes here is that 'Being a trans woman is not a sin,' she said. in a video interview for Vice Media in 2021. “In this world, it's not just men and women that exist. There is us. We trans people exist too."

Her words resonated with marginalized and self-doubting transgender women across the country.

"What she does is give humanity back to the trans women's community," Mario Pratama, an Indonesian L.G.B.T.Q. organizer, said in a sponsored video by Front Line Defenders, a human rights organization that honored Ms Shinta in 2019.

Over 80% of Indonesians are Muslim, and although the religion takes on a particularly tolerant form there, militant Islam is on the rise, and he has pressured the government to become more rigid.

The country took a step back from liberalism in December with the passage of a new law that bans sex outside marriage and imposes strict new limits to freedom of expression.

The new rules pose a challenge to transgender women and could be used to target same-sex couples in a country where they are prohibited by law to marry.

"Indonesia's new penal code contains oppressive and vague provisions that open the door to invasions of privacy and selective enforcement", Andreas Harsono, researcher principal on Indonesia at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Transgender women face widespread discrimination in seeking employment and are generally for ...