Surviving Sharia Law as a Lesbian Couple

Just as we were about to click the “book now” button, we decided to first read a few reviews of the hotel in Jakarta we were considering. This is when we learned that the hotel follows Sharia Law. Out of both curiosity and adventure we confirmed our booking, wondering what we had in store for us for the first two nights of our Indonesian vacation.

For those of you who might not be familiar with Sharia Law, it is a list of strict guidelines set forth by Islam. These include wearing a hijab (headscarf) for women, no alcohol consumption and mandatory praying five times per day. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, there are religious police to enforce these laws, often using severe practices as punishments, such as caning, for not following the rules. What had we gotten ourselves into?

Checking In

After a 20 minute walk from Jarkarta’s Gambir Train Station we entered the hotel with our booking number in hand. As we handed over our passports, we noticed prominently displayed signage indicating that all married couples were to present proof of their marriage in order to get one bed. We wondered what this meant for us and the one bed we had ordered. Upon arriving to our room we must admit that we were not entirely surprised to see two twin beds, one of which we snuggled up in together to sleep that night, exhausted from our travel day.

“Mecca” Differences

Unlike in hotels in North America you will not find a copy of the Bible in the beside night stand. Instead, each room includes a bilingual Qur’an (Arabic and Bahasa Indonesian), a prayer rug and an arrow on the ceiling pointing towards Mecca.

Although there was a mosque right across the street sounding the call to prayer five times a day, it also came from the speakers in the hotel. One of our favorite aspects of all hotels in Muslim countries, and this one was no different, is the Mecca TV channel, that shows the Kaaba in Mecca twenty-four hours a day. For some reason we find this channel memorizing.

No, No, No

Sharia Law prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages and pig meat, both of which were no problem for us. We enjoyed our welcome drink of fresh fruit juice after our travel day from Thailand and were frankly happy not to see hacked up pieces of pig carcass at the complimentary breakfast the next morning.

According to Sharia Law, no visitors could enter the rooms and could therefore only meet guest in the lobby. In addition, no pornographic movies were available on TV. But since we weren’t expecting any visitors and aren’t into pornos, these Islamic rules didn’t phase us either.

For some reason (and we could not find this rule in Sharia Law), there was no chain on our room door. This didn’t bother us per se, but we both confessed that we were nervous that the cleaning staff would come in a see us snuggled together in one twin bed. Having learned that lesbians are legally classified as “mentally-handicapped” in Indonesia, this was possibly a valid concern. As it turned out, we were abruptly woken up at 8am by sturdy knocking at the door. It was indeed a member of the cleaning staff who began pushing his cleaning cart into the room the second the door was opened. We guess a good Muslim would already be up by then?

One Bed Please

After considerable discussion we decided to ask upon checkout about how we would go about getting one bed for our next stay.

So the final morning, knowing that lesbians aren’t even considered in Islamic law, we turned in our key, pointed to the Sharia Law policy and innocently stated, “It says here that in order to get one bed married couples have to prove their marriage. We are married. What kind of proof do you need?”

The man behind the counter, in his early to mid 20’s, immediately looked at Mindy’s chest and his face flushed with embarrassment. Smiling through his visible discomfort, the employee stumbled for the word “certificate”.

The man then decided that we could get one bed without a certificate. We guessed that anyone willing to admit a same-sex marriage must be telling the truth. Besides, since Sharia Law does not even recognize lesbians, unlike our male counterparts, then how can we be breaking the law? But it does say that “women exist for men”, so not having a man around would be our crime?

Although we were clearly not Muslim, being the only women not wearing a hijab, all staff members were very friendly to us, smiling, saying “good morning” and offering explanations of some of the food items at breakfast that we were unfamiliar with. Honestly, we wish we had come out earlier in our stay.

What experience do you have with Sharia Law?