The left-wing outlet, The Independent, ran a report about "How climate change is hitting vulnerable Indonesian trans sex workers" on Wednesday.
"Joya Patiha, a 43-year-old Indonesian transgender woman, first started to notice that changing weather patterns in the mountain-ringed city of Bandung were affecting her income as a sex worker a decade ago," the article began.
Continuing along these lines, the Independent focused in on how the rainy season lasting longer in Indonesia was leading to Patiha losing "up to 80% of her earnings" as a sex worker in the country.
The article claimed, "Trans women like Patiha are among the most affected by extreme weather linked to climate change, as well as suffering disproportionately when disasters strike."
In the outlet’s interview the sex worker, Pathia, said, “No one is coming out during the longer rainy season," adding, "It is very hard to make money during that unpredictable weather."
Independent reporter and Reuters Correspondent Leo Galuh penned the report detailing the climate events effecting the income of the transgender sex worker in the Southeast Asian country.
Other interviews of trans-identified males in the report suggested the rainy season was hardest for them.
“I no longer want to endure the heat and rain on the streets,” 28-year-old trans-identified male Sherly Wijayanto told the outlet. Wijayanto has instead turned to singing with a theatre company and running social media accounts to pay the bills.
The Independent linked the increased rainy seasons over the last decade directly to climate change, reporting, "Indonesia is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and trans women, who tend to face more stigma and marginalisation than trans men or other LGBTQ+ Indonesians, are also among those hardest hit by extreme weather."
