Exploring the effect of intrinsic religiousness, extrinsic religiousness, and religious fundamentalism on people’s attitude towards lesbians and gays in Indonesia

Lesbians and gays hatred in Indonesia have significantly increased in the last few years. Since 2015, there have been raids on gay saunas, calls for the criminalisation of homosexuality, and statements made by prominent politicians and religious leaders about the evils of lesbian and gay rights. Hence, the purpose of this study is to explore the impact of intrinsic religiousness, extrinsic religiousness, and religious fundamentalism on people’s attitudes towards homosexuals and people’s perception of lesbian and gay people as immoral and dangerous. This study uses a quantitative survey and samples from Indonesia (n = 602), one of the most religious nations in the world. The results show intrinsic religiousness negatively influences people’s attitude towards gay men but not lesbians. Moreover, extrinsic social religiousness has no effect on people’s attitude towards gay men and lesbians. Both intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness have no effect on people’s perception of LGBT people as an immoral and dangerous group. Nonetheless, religious fundamentalism negatively influences people’s attitude towards gay men and lesbians. More important, religious fundamentalism perceives lesbian and gay people as an immoral and dangerous group. The results indicate a need for greater tolerance in Indonesia, especially protection from conservative and religious fundamentalist groups.