Chairperson of PI Indonesia and founder and chair of Arus Pelangi, a national federation supporting LGBTI human rights in Indonesia, Yuli Rustinawati has received the Felipa De Souza Award at the OutRight’s Celebration of Courage Gala on Sunday, 16 May 2016.

The award comes at an important time as in the last three months “…Indonesian politicians have vowed to criminalize homosexuality; ban LGBT people from receiving education, employment, access to health care, and  housing; called for the removal of gay characters on popular TV shows; and called upon tech companies to remove same-sex emojis from smartphone apps and social media.” (Hans Thoolen, https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/indonesian-lgbt-defender-gay-rights-honored-de-souza-award/)

Yuli Rustinawati continues her work defending LGBTI rights by setting up a foundation for sexual orientation and gender variant human rights defenders.

“I support my community, my family – Lesbians, Bisexuals, Gays, Trans – by walking hand in hand, being a friend, being a sister, being a brother, being a friend whenever my family need me to support LGBTI equality. LGBTI rights are human rights.”

– Yuli Rustinawati (Stonewall 25)

For more information or to donate to Arus Pelangi please visit the Alturi website.