LGBT RESEARCH IN GENERAL AND ISLAMIC SECONDARY EDUCATION: STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS AND PERCEPTIONS

Background: The estimated number of LGBT individuals in Indonesia has reached 7.5 million, with one of the contributing factors being the taboo surrounding discussions on deviant sexual behaviors, particularly among teenagers. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is an effect of education on the perception of adolescents in Medan City regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual


INTRODUCTION
Society in Indonesia remains highly taboo when it comes to discussing deviant sexual behaviors due to the strong influence of religious teachings, morals, and ethics among the population.Deviant sexual behaviors essentially arise from deviations in sexual orientation (Alang, 2019).Sexual orientation is a tendency in expressing one's feelings of attraction, emotions, romance, and sexual interest towards either men, women, or a combination of both.Deviant sexual behaviors are performed by a group of individuals with differing sexual orientations commonly referred to as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community (Fauziah et al., 2020).
LGBT is a form of sexual deviation characterized by same-sex attraction and represents a minority group whose existence cannot be openly acknowledged.The LGBT community emerged in Indonesia starting from the 1960s and experienced a resurgence in the 2000s (Junaidi, 2023).Organizations that support the existence of LGBT, such as the Indonesian Lesbian Association (Perselin) and the Jakarta Gay Association (Hiwad), are present.The rise of the LGBT community in Indonesia is due to the influence of liberal trends in other countries that provide recognition and acceptance for the LGBT community in society.There are varying opinions, both in favor and against LGBT, due to their perceived deviant sexual behavior, with many people willing to accept the existence of the LGBT community (Dhamayanti, 2022).In Islam, LGBT is not a new phenomenon as it is mentioned in the Qur'an, specifically in Surah Al-A'raf: 80-82, where the LGBT group is described as wicked and should be avoided (Awwaliyah, 2021).
In 2019, it was estimated that the number of LGBT individuals in Indonesia reached 3% of the total population, which is approximately 7.5 million people.According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health (Kemenkes RI), the risk factors for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) cases predominantly occur in the heterosexual group at 61.5%, followed by injection drug use at 15.2%, and cases with unknown risk factors at 17.1% (Jasman et al., 2019).According to a study conducted in Lampung, the prevalence rate of HIV infection among the homosexual group was found to be 28% (Aryastuti et al., 2019).The LGBT community is considered a high-risk group for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) transmission, hence the need for prevention and reproductive health education.The impact on health occurs because the sexual activities of LGBT individuals make them vulnerable to the transmission and spread of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (Jasman et al., 2019).HIV/AIDS ranks first as the leading cause of death worldwide, followed by tuberculosis (TB).It is not uncommon for HIV patients to also suffer from tuberculosis (TB), which increases the mortality rate (Boy, 2015).Based on the results of focus group discussions (FGDs) with the LGBT community, there are several factors contributing to LGBT behavior, including family, biological, environmental, and economic factors (Alfitri, Neviyarni, 2022).Moreover, LGBT behavior has various impacts on health, morality, social aspects, security, and education (Jasman et al., 2019).

Low knowledge about reproductive health and
LGBT among adolescents is one of the risk factors for LGBT behavior.Previous research on adolescents' perception of LGBT conducted at SMA SANTA LUSIA in Percut Sei Tuan sub-district, Deli Serdang Regency in 2018 found that 71.66% had insufficient knowledge (Siregar, 2019).The same research conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Mataram, revealed that more than half of the respondents had a negative perception, indicating that they considered LGBT behavior as deviant and not in line with religious, moral, and societal values.This may be due to the taboo nature of discussing sexuality issues in Indonesia, especially homosexuality, particularly among adolescents.Therefore, there is a need for education targeting adolescents regarding LGBT (Nurkhalifah, 2021).Due to the lack of knowledge among adolescents about LGBT and the impacts resulting from LGBT sexual behavior, research is necessary to investigate the influence of education on adolescents' perception of LGBT in Medan City.
To prevent the rise of sexual deviations such as LGBT, one of the efforts that can be undertaken is providing education to adolescents.Education is a form of delivering information that can enhance knowledge.In a previous study, education was conducted through a 20-minute lecture method (Asra, 2017).The results of that research indicated that LGBT psychoeducation proved to be effective in improving adolescents' perception of LGBT.The factors influencing the increase in adolescents' perception of LGBT include reaction criteria, learning criteria, behavioral criteria, and outcome criteria (Asra, 2017).

METHOD Research Design
This study is a Quasi-Experimenta research with a Posttest Only Control Group Design.The sampling method used in this study is non-probability sampling, specifically the Purposive Sampling technique (Dahlan, 2018).In this experimental design, there are two pre-determined groups, one serving as the control group and the other as the intervention group.In the intervention group, a 20-minute presentation was conducted using PowerPoint slides on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) topics.In the first 5 minutes, the researcher presented the definition of LGBT and elaborated on each aspect of LGBT.Then, in the next 10 minutes, the researcher explained the causes and the dangers of LGBT, including health, morality, and education aspects.Additionally, the researcher provided information on how to prevent LGBT.In the final 5 minutes, the researcher gave the participants an opportunity to ask questions if there were any aspects they did not understand.

Research Location and Time
This study was conducted from August 2022 to May 2023.The research was carried out at 4 schools located in Medan City, comprising 2 public secondary schools and 2 Islamic-based secondary schools.

Research Sample
The sample for this study consists of twelfth-grade students who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
The inclusion criteria are as follows: twelfth-grade high school students, students willing to participate in the education session conducted by the researcher, and students willing to complete the posttest questionnaire provided by the researcher.The exclusion criteria are twelfth-grade students who are not within the school environment.

Sample Size
According to Sopiyudin in 2016, the sample size in this study is determined using the unmatched comparative categorical hypothesis testing (Dahlan, 2018).The sample size in this study is determined using the unmatched comparative categorical hypothesis testing.According to Dahlan in the book Introduction to Biostatistics (2016), the formula for unmatched comparative categorical analysis is as follows: Based on the formula for calculating the sample size for unmatched comparative categorical analysis, the required sample size for this study is 224 individuals.The researcher then involved 4 schools, thus Next, in this study, an experimental group and a control group were conducted, with a sample size of 28 individuals in the intervention group and 28 individuals in the control group.

Data Collection Procedure
This research has been approved by the Ethics Committee for Health Research of the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (Reference No. 938/KEPK/FKUMSU/2022).The data used in this study are primary data obtained directly from twelfth-grade high school students.In the initial stage of data collection, the researcher gathered all the respondents and obtained informed consent from each of them.The respondents signed the informed consent form.Next, the researcher conducted an education session with a duration of 20 minutes..The educational material was presented using PowerPoint, and the researcher delivered the education session personally.After the education session was completed for the intervention group, the questionnaire was distributed.Subsequently, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to the respondents in the control group in a separate room from the intervention group.Once the data was collected, it was processed using computer software.

Validity Test
In this study, face validity was used as the validity measure, wherein the instrument used was validated by two expert faculty members in their respective fields to validate the questionnaire.The validity testing was conducted by comparing the content of the questionnaire with the concepts presented.Each expert evaluator conducted their assessment separately and based their judgment on expert opinions.Expert I and Expert II declared that the questionnaire met the criteria for data collection instruments in the face validity test sheet, allowing the questionnaire to proceed for use in the study.

Reliability Test
A reliable instrument is an instrument that, when used multiple times to measure the same object, will produce consistent data.The results obtained from the reliability test using the Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS) software, Version 23.0 for Windows, can be seen in the table below:

Cronbach Alpha
Number of Respondents 0.812 357 The results of the reliability test conducted showed a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.812, which indicates that the research scale used has a very high level of reliability.

Perception of LGBT Questionnaire
The questionnaire distributed to respondents consists of 17 questions regarding perception.For the positive questions listed in items 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 15, and 16, selecting "Strongly Agree" is assigned a score of 4, "Agree" is assigned a score of 3, "Disagree" is assigned a score of 2, and "Strongly Disagree" is assigned a score of 1.For the negative questions listed in items 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, and 17, selecting "Strongly Disagree" is assigned a score of 4, "Disagree" is assigned a score of 3, "Agree" is assigned a score of 2, and "Strongly Agree" is assigned a score of 1.The perception measurement result is the total sum of correct answers.It is considered a negative perception if the score result is greater than the mean/median, and it is considered a positive perception if the result is less than the mean/median.Based on Table 1 above, it was found that the number of respondents who filled out the questionnaire was higher for females, accounting for 63.4%, compared to males, who accounted for 36.6%.This indicates that the proportion of male students is lower than that of female students.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
According to Table 1 above, the research findings show that the majority of respondents were 17 years old.In the control group, 78.6% of the respondents were 17 years old, while in the intervention group, 67% of the respondents were 17 years old.
Based on Table 1 above, the research results indicate that 130 respondents had a negative perception, meaning that they considered LGBT as deviant or wrong behavior.In the control group, 34.8% of the respondents had a negative perception, while in the intervention group, 81.3% of the respondents had a negative perception.

Hypothesis Testing Results.
The hypothesis testing in this study used the Mann Whitney test to analyze the influence of education on teenagers' perceptions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) in Medan City.The decision-making basis for the Mann Whitney test is as follows: 1.If Asymp.sig(2-tailed) < 0.05, then there is a significant difference.2. If Asymp.sig(2-tailed) > 0.05, then there is no significant difference.In Table 2 above, the results of the Mann Whitney test show a p-value of <0.001, indicating that the hypothesis can be accepted.Therefore, it can be concluded that "There is an influence of education on teenagers' perceptions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) in Medan City." The results of the Mann Whitney test for General-Based Schools and Islamic-Based Schools.

Total 224
In Table 3 above, the results of the Mann Whitney test with a p-value of 0.504 indicate that the hypothesis is rejected.Therefore, it can be concluded that "There is no difference in teenagers' perceptions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) based on their school backgrounds." In this discussion, we will explain the relationship between theological studies and the research study titled "The Influence of Education on Teenagers' Perceptions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) in High School Students in Medan City."Based on the analysis results obtained from the research conducted in four selected schools as the research sample, it can be concluded that there is an influence of education on teenagers' perceptions of LGBT among high school students in Medan City.
In this research, it was found that there were more female respondents compared to males.In the control group, the percentage of female respondents was 63.4%, while in the intervention group, the percentage of female respondents was 56.3%.These research findings are consistent with other studies that explain that females are social beings who tend to have helpful, open, cooperative, and trustworthy traits, while males are more likely to conceal their emotions (Febrya & Elmirawati, 2017).This is also in line with previous research that states that females are more responsive in filling out questionnaires compared to males (Latif et al., 2019).The greater number of female respondents compared to males in both general-based and Islamic-based high schools can be supported by a study conducted in Jambi in 2017, which found a majority of female students in both public and private high schools.The total of female students in twelfth grade in public-based high schools was 1,780, while the number of male students was 1,313.In private high schools, there were 1,002 female students in twelfth grade and 895 male students.This could be due to gender inequality in the education system, resulting in a majority of female students (Marmoah, 2017).
In this study, it was found that the majority of respondents were 17 years old.The average age of high school students in Indonesia is approximately 15-18 years old.Based on the regulations and requirements of the New Student Admission (PPDB) for elementary, junior high, senior high, and vocational schools in 2018, the maximum age for entering senior high school is 21 years old.The results of this study are consistent with previous research that states that 49 respondents (56%) were aged 15-17 years old.The age range of 15-17 years old corresponds to the middle adolescent period, during which teenagers develop the ability to think abstractly or find solutions to problems without the presence of concrete issues (Putri, 2022).These research findings are also in line with previous studies that explain the specific relationship between age and knowledge levels (Nengah et al., 2019).The results of this study are not consistent with previous research that explains the significant role of age in acquiring knowledge and decision-making.As individuals mature in age, they tend to accumulate more knowledge and make decisions more effectively.Additionally, the functioning of their bodily organs, including memory, also tends to improve (Sampang & Waroh, 2020).
Based on the results of the study, 58% of the respondents had a negative perception, meaning that they considered LGBT as deviant or wrong behavior.In the control group, the percentage of respondents with a negative perception was 34.8%, while in the intervention group, the percentage of respondents with a negative perception was 81.3%.Perception refers to the brain's ability to interpret a series of stimuli or processes that enter and are processed through the human senses (Asra, 2017).The findings of this study are consistent with previous research, where it was found that out of the total number of respondents, 49 respondents (56%) had a negative perception, with a total of 87 respondents (Putri, 2022).The same previous study also explained that more than half of the respondents had a negative perception of LGBT and considered it as deviant behavior (Kamila & Casmini, 2020).Other research results indicated that society's perception of LGBT considers it as deviating from the social values embraced by the community (Rinita Amelia, Melya Susanti, 2022).
In this study, it was found that the majority of respondents had a negative perception of LGBT.Negative perceptions can occur due to several factors such as experiential factors and knowledge factors.The more knowledge an individual has about something, the more it influences their perception of that object.This is in line with previous research that explains how experience is also defined by episodic memory, which involves the memory of receiving and storing an event that occurs or is experienced by individuals at a specific time and place.Experiences can lead to differences in the interpretation of an object (Iqbal, 2019).Knowledge influences individuals' perceptions because the more information an individual possesses, the more knowledge they acquire, and they will have different perspectives to interpret something (Azhari et al., 2019).The results of this study align with previous research that states perceptions will be better and more meaningful if they are based on correct religious teachings and guided by intelligent and appropriate parental guidance (Anita et al., 2022) In addition to negative perceptions, this study also yielded results indicating the presence of positive perceptions, meaning that some individuals agree with the existence of LGBT.The presence of positive perceptions in this study is likely influenced by the respondents' limited level of knowledge.These research findings are in line with previous studies that explain how knowledge significantly influences teenagers' perceptions of LGBT (Melinda Hartati, Ani Wardah, 2019).Knowledge about the benefits of something can affect one's intention to engage in an activity, so the more knowledge one possesses, the better the outcome is likely to be (Aziz, 2017).The findings of this study are consistent with previous research that explains how weak religious knowledge is an internal factor that influences individuals to agree with the existence of LGBT (Dhamayanti, 2022).The results of this study are also in line with previous research that states that excessive freedom in social interaction and environment is the primary factor influencing individuals to approve of the existence of LGBT (Ratnasari, 2020).
In this study, no significant difference in perceptions regarding LGBT was found between general-based schools and Islamic-based schools.This is because knowledge is not solely acquired through school-based learning but also through easily accessible social media, which greatly influences teenagers' perceptions.This research is consistent with a study conducted by Gustini, which explains that perceptions require learning through education, both formal and non-formal, such as personal experiences.Personal experiences can be utilized in efforts to improve and prevent deviant behavior (Debi Angelina Br Barus, 2020).This research result is also consistent with previous studies that explain how the easily accessible and obtained global communication system will lead to significant changes in sexual norms, especially among teenagers (Sugihartono. Dkk, 2007).This research result is also in line with findings that describe the proliferation of LGBT individuals within social media platforms, which creates a situation of both pro and contra actions.Therefore, technological advancements also have an impact on teenagers' perceptions (Walgito, 2010).

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
From the research results, it was found that there is an influence of education on teenagers' perceptions of LGBT.As many as 58% have a negative perception of LGBT behavior, considering it deviant/wrong behavior that is not in accordance with religious and moral values in society.A suggestion for further research is to expand the research location and respondents, with LGBT education becoming an important part of the school curriculum, and religious subjects should not be removed from schools.