A group of Islamic activists has filed a petition with Indonesia's Constitutional Court seeking to expand the coverage of an existing law against sex between an adult and a minor of the same gender to include two homosexual adults.

The Family Love Alliance has also asked the court to extend the law on rape to cover homosexuals.

"We see the moral degradation that is happening," said Rita Hendrawaty Soebagio, chairwoman of the alliance, according to AFP. "This is purely because of our love for our nation; we must do something while we have a chance."

The alliance said the gay community's influence in Indonesia is spreading.

The court has held five hearings since the petition was filed last May; the next one will be held later this month.

On its website, the court said it was hearing testimonies from health experts who say gay sex could cause sexually transmitted diseases.

Homosexuality is taboo in Indonesia although gay sex is legal in most parts of the country.

Soebagio told the Associated Press that their "real reason is so that we have much clearer norms."

"We are not intending to criminalise those who have a deviant sexual orientation. That is not the point. They can be free to live but not show their lifestyle," she said.

The Indonesian government said on Thursday that there was "no room" for gays in the country.

Human Rights Watch noted that in the past two months, the gay community has been verbally attacked by senior officials who are seeking to ban them in university campuses.

Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said protecting LGBT rights is not the government's priority.

"Rights of citizens like going to school and getting an ID card are protected, but there is no room in Indonesia for the proliferation of the LGBT movement," he told AFP.

Indonesia's higher education minister wants LGBT organisations banned in universities while the defence minister compared LGBT rights groups to a "type of modern warfare."

Last February, Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim group, criticised gay lifestyles as perverted and a desecration of human dignity.