Indonesian province sets up anti-LGBT taskforce after gay men caned for having sex, by Lizzie Dearden.

Indonesian police have set up a new task force to investigate activities by gay men and women in the country’s most populous province, amid outrage over the caning of two men.

West Java police chief Anton Charliyan said the unit includes police, army and provincial officials, and will monitor and search for locations used for parties by LGBT people.

He told reporters in Bandung that gay people suffered a “disease of the body and soul” and “will not be accepted in society”.

“I hope there are no followers in West Java, no gay or LGBT lifestyle or tradition,” Mr Charliyan said. ”If there’s anyone following it, they will face the law and heavy social sanctions.”

His announcement on Wednesday came after two gay men were publicly caned in front of baying crowds wh called on enforcers to “hit them harder” as punishment for having sex.

The couple, in their 20s, were sentenced to 85 lashes each by a Sharia court in Aceh province after being filmed by local vigilantes.

The western leftist alliance includes both gays and Muslims. What do they gays think is going to happen? How do they feel about belonging to a political movement that protects and encourages those who would promote Sharia — which would kill them?