Indonesia 20 May 2016 00:00
Anita, 49, and Ukke, 54, are a couple of lesbians from Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. They have been together for the past last 11 years. This photo essay shows their daily life over the course of three months in a moment when hate speech against LGBT people increases in Indonesia. It was 1981 when Ika Yuanita - "Anita", as her friends know her, a 13 year old Indonesian girl, told her mother she thought she would not get married, just before going to bed at home in Bendo, a green village set amidst the geometric rice paddies of East Java.
Her mother, Mrs. Alimah, who had long awaited the conversation with her daughter asked her in a friendly tone:
--Why? –And it was a silence.
--Because I do not like boys –Anita admitted, out of the blue.
--It is ok –mom said –but remember that you are our only daughter. We want to be grandparents –she stressed.
This is how this beautiful 49 years old indonesian woman, a lesbian, a mother, a grandmother of three grandchildren, a former actress, a former model and an activist looked for “a solution to love a girl,” she explains pragmatically, squatting on the second floor of her home in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, while she pats "Paris", a white and honey cat. Her partner Ukke prepares a coffee.
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