Indonesian Constitutional Court judge Arief Hidayat has apologized to that country’s LGBT community after a gay activist wrote to him to tell him of his struggles as a gay Muslim living in Indonesia.

Hidayat had spoken out against the idea of same-sex marriage during a confirmation hearing in the Indonesian House of Representatives, which prompted LGBT rights activist Hartoyo, the secretary general of the group Ourvoice, to write an open letter to the judge.

A lesbian couple who forged documents to fool officials into marrying them had to flea from their home in a village on Batam, Riau Islands in Indonesia when their neighbors discovered the truth.

'We reject homosexuals here,' a neighbor named Marlina told AFP yesterday.

'So last week we raided their house and saw Musdalifa was obviously a woman... We told Musdalifa to leave. They both fled and we haven't seen them since.'

Musdalifa was really a 23-year-old woman called Angga Soerjipto who married her 41-year-old girlfriend Ninies Ramiluningtyas.

Editorials in The Jakarta Post and The Bangkok Post have slammed authorities in the Indonesian province of Aceh for introducing new Islamic Sharia laws that include flogging gay people and banning women passengers from straddling motorbikes.

'When the New Year chimed in parts of Aceh, Indonesia, the calendar rolled over from 2012 to 1413,' said the editorial in The Bangkok Post.

Trans activists in Indonesia have spoken out about the lack of protection they get from police in the face of threats from Islamic extremists.

Earlier this week a transgender festival in Jakarta was stopped by FPI (Front Pembela Islam, the Islamic Defenders Front), one witness reported that the Islamic extremists wielded sticks to threaten the transgender women at the event.

An Indonesian gay rights activist who has been waiting for months to hear if he will be accepted to serve on the national human rights commission has found out that he didn’t make the final cut.

The appointment of Dede Oetomo, an openly gay academic, to Komnas HAM, Indonesia’s human rights commission, would have made a positive statement in a country that has been accused of regressing in its acceptance of LGBT rights.

A group of students protested in Banda Aceh, northwestern Indonesia, on Wednesday against the possibility gay rights activist Dede Oetamo could be appointed onto the country’s human rights commission (Komnas HAM).

Dozens of members of the Indonesian Muslim Students Front (KAMMI) protested.

Indonesian transgender activist Yulianus Rettoblaut is planning a home for elderly waria (transgenders) in Depok, West Java, Indonesia.

‘We have to do [the project] bit by bit because currently no one is eager to support us financially,’ Yulianus said in an interview with The Jakarta Post. ‘I hope that eventually people can see how important this is for our aging friends.’

The Indonesian city of Tasikmalaya in West Java is seeking to implement controversial Sharia based laws which would make it compulsory for all Muslim women in the city to wear headscarfs and criminalise homosexuality.

Homosexuality is not an offence under Indonesia’s national laws. However many local government areas within the country have sought to ban it by including it in local public morality laws.

Dozens of Lady Gaga fans gathered outside Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on Sunday despite the fact she was forced to cancel her 3 June concert due to security concerns.

Last week Lady Gaga cancelled what would have been her first concert in Indonesia, after threats from Islamic groups.

The bisexual pop sensation and LGBTI rights activist, Lady Gaga, has decided to cancel the Indonesian leg of her most recent tour after receiving threats of 'chaos' if she were to enter the world's most populous Muslim country.

In a statement issued to the press, Minola Sebayang, lawyer for the singer's promoters, Big Daddy, said: 'Lady Gaga's management has considered the situation minute to minute, and with threats if the concert goes ahead, Lady Gaga's side is calling off the concert.

A dedicated website for gay people in Indonesia funded by the Australian government was launched this week.

Project of Love, proyekcinta.com, was launched at a party in Bali on Wednesday night. It covers health - including information about HIV prevention and an online ‘Ask the Doctor’ facility - blogs about gay life as well as entertainment reviews and events.

Cambodia Pride starts on Saturday, and 2012 is a bumper year because the kingdom hosting ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations). So Pride organisers RoCK (Rainbow Community Kampuchea) are joining forces with LGBT groups in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Laos and Vietnam for workshops and events.