Good afternoon, honourable members of Parliament. Thank you immensely for the opportunity to allow Chad and me to attend this special hearing on the rainbow refugee assistance program.
My name is Eka. My husband and I were married discreetly in Canada without any friends or family present. It broke my heart, but having him next to me at the Nepean Point here in Ottawa with our officiant, I told myself that it was perfect. We had no celebration afterwards.
We went back Indonesia. Only our best friends knew about our marriage; however, things changed. The Government of Indonesia issued a new criminal code article 292 stating that adults who conduct sexual intercourse with others of the same sex will be put in prison for five years. The Islamic Defenders Front and the police worked together to legally ban the education seminar on LGBT in Jakarta on February 3, 2016. They came into the meeting savagely and hit several participants who were all transgender. However, the government has succeeded in concealing this act of persecution from the international community.
My husband and I were victims of cyber-bullying on Twitter in Indonesia with #dieyoufaggot. Our photos were everywhere, and they wrote on Twitter that we should both rot in hell. We couldn't report this to the police, or things would turn the other way around.
One day while I was substitute teaching at the French institute of Indonesia, my students and I talked about what we liked and did not like in life. One of my students said that she really did not like homosexuals. I was stunned and confused. I then listened to why she hated us. After listening to her, I decided not to say anything more. I was afraid of the consequences.
In the end, my husband and I decided to leave Indonesia with the sole purpose of starting our own family here. To save our lives, we looked for information on the IRCC website. I have to say honestly that I found all the information on the site rather complicated. Through a Canadian organization located in Ottawa, Rainbow Railroad, which supports the LGBTQ+ community, we got help with the steps involved in making a refugee claim. We were even put in touch with a lawyer in Vancouver.
For that reason, I would like to thank the Canadian government for the support it provides to organizations devoted to supporting the LGBT community in this country, which I now call home. I would like therefore for the government to continue providing support to Rainbow Refugee's assistance programs in the years to come.
Thank you kindly, ladies and gentlemen.