Matt DeLong
Washington Post
11/9/2010
With Obama visiting Indonesia today, the New York Times has a story that is just chock-full of interesting tidbits about Obama’s time living there as a child in the late 1960s. For example, the Times reports that back then Obama was “chubby” and that some of the locals referred to him as “the boy who runs like a duck.”
Then, of course, there’s this:
His nanny was an openly gay man who, in keeping with Indonesia’s relaxed attitudes toward homosexuality, carried on an affair with a local butcher, longtime residents said. The nanny later joined a group of transvestites called Fantastic Dolls, who, like the many transvestites who remain fixtures of Jakarta’s streetscape, entertained people by dancing and playing volleyball.
Apparently, such a thing is not uncommon, as Indonesia has a relatively advanced drag culture, the Australian newspaper the Age reported in 2003. Transvestites, known in Indonesia as “waria,” are particularly prevalent in the tailoring and makeup artist professions, according to the paper.
However, not everyone in Indonesia enjoys the drag queen volleyball games. The BBC reported that hardline Islamists broke up a transvestite beauty pageant in 2005…
The article continues at the Washington Post.
