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In a comic that will be released in November, Superman's son has come out of the closet to declare that he is bisexual, according to The Verge.

In the fifth issue of "Superman: Son of Kal-El", Jon Kent, the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, fell in love with a male reporter called Jay Nakamura.

While many were welcoming the move towards equality, some conservative segments in Indonesia were not accepting of this news.

PPP "condemns" DC Comics

Several Muslim organisations in the country had voiced their displeasure towards the comic, and had tried to pressure the government to ban the comic.

Achmad Baidowi, the leader of the Islam-based political party, the United Development Party (PPP), had demanded the government to boycott the comic. 

"We, the PPP, urge the government to boycott products from DC Comics, which had announced a new character in Superman that's a bisexual man," Achmad said, as reported by Detik. 

"Superman comics and films are consumed by younger Indonesian audiences."

Achmad added that the party "strongly condemns" DC Comics, and has requested them to stop the comic's publication.

Detik also reported Achmad saying he was "concerned" over children's development in Indonesia if they read the comic depicting a bisexual man.

He wanted the government to block all images relating to the comic as well.

Comic destroys minds of younger generation: MUI

Another Islamic organisation, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), had also requested the government to stop distributing the comic. 

"MUI urges the government to prohibit the distribution of the comic as its content is not in line with the values of Pancasila and our identity and culture as a religious nation," Anwar Abbas said, according to CNN Indonesia.

He reportedly said that being bisexual "goes against human nature, religion and human rights".

Anwar added that all of humanity will be destroyed if everyone on Earth follows the LGBT ideology.

"Therefore, MUI requests the police to arrest the producer and distributor of the comic as it will destroy the minds of the younger generation," he said.

Indonesia's anti-LGBT stance

The conservative segment in Indonesia has been making headlines for its anti-LGBT stance in recent years.

On Jan. 28, two men were publicly flogged 77 times in Aceh, Indonesia, following a raid by a mob in their apartment in November 2020 while they were having sex.

In another case, an Indonesian police officer, Tri Teguh Pujianto, was dismissed from his job of 10 years in 2018 after a police officer from another town caught him and his partner saying goodbye the latter's workplace on Valentine's day.

In 2015, then-MUI's leader, Ma'ruf Amin, pushed for a law to punish those who have inclinations towards the same sex, The Jakarta Post reported.

He also urged the government to have a system where LGBT individuals would need to be "rehabilitated" to be "normal".

A survey done by Pew Research showed that in 2013, only three per cent of Indonesians surveyed thought that LGBTs should be accepted in their country.

In 2019, the number grew to nine per cent, but it still falls short compared to other nations such as Sweden, Netherlands and Spain, where acceptance of LGBTS is more than 80 per cent, and even the Philippines, which recorded an acceptance of more than 70 per cent.

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