Sri Lanka’s queer community awaits top court decision on decriminalisation of homosexuality
This story first appeared in www.thehindu.com
Activists are also keenly tracking the hearings on marriage equality in India
When members of Sri Lanka’s LGBTQIA+ community took out one of their biggest pride rallies in a public space — the Colombo seafront — in June last year, the country was already witnessing history unfold. A charged citizens’ movement that had built up over months, in the wake of a painful economic crash, was at its height, asking the President to “go home”. In less than a month, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned.
The changes in the country since may not have been what many in the citizens’ uprising hoped to see — an electorally defeated politician (Ranil Wickremesinghe) becoming President with the backing of the discredited Rajapaksas’ party — but a recent move by a ruling party MP has brought some promise, especially for Sri Lanka’s queer community that has been struggling for equality for many decades now.
On March 22, a Private Member’s Bill seeking to amend Sri Lanka’s penal code, to decriminalise homosexuality was gazetted. The prospect of seeing colonial-era laws that have effectively sanctioned discrimination and state violence against queer people amended or repealed sparked rare hope.
Except, three Rajapaksa loyalists decided to legally challenge the Bill, tabled by Premnath C. Dolawatte, a legislator from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Front) — the very same party they support, or are part of.
Within days, queer rights activists and allies filed nearly a dozen intervening petitions challenging the regressive petition. The Supreme Court, which has heard arguments from both sides, is due to send its ruling to the Parliament soon.
While Sri Lanka’s queer community waits in eager anticipation, “let’s not count the chickens before they hatch”, cautions Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, founder and executive director of EQUAL GROUND, a non-profit working on the rights of queer people. “We are hoping for a positive judgment from the Court, and a progressive vote from Parliament. Let’s see,” she says.
Her caution stems from the queer community’s lived experience in Sri Lanka. They face frequent discrimination, hate, and violence. “To be queer in Sri Lanka is very dangerous. While there is a change in attitude in some quarters, more organisations offering support, and more people speaking up, there is still a long way to go,” the senior activist says.
Another attempt after 1995
The passage of the Bill, however, will mean a big victory for the community, according to Damith Chandimal, an LGBTQIA+ rights activist. “It could really open up space for people from the queer community to seek legal assistance in future. Until now, members have been reluctant to go to the police or the Human Rights Commission. There have been very few cases filed with these authorities. There is ample research to show how queer people face harassment from law enforcement authorities,” he points out.
While echoing Flamer-Caldera’s sentiment that there is a long way ahead, Chandimal sees the Bill as a crucial legislative step in the community’s decades-long struggle. The last time Sri Lanka attempted such a move in Parliament was in 1995, but it proved unsuccessful.
All the same, activists like him emphasise the need to see the Bill in the country’s larger political context, rather than in isolation. It comes at a time when the government’s intolerance to democratic dissent is hard to miss, especially in its recent attempt to bring in a new counter-terrorism legislation, whose draft has attracted sharp criticism for its “draconian” scope.
“We would like the Bill [decriminalising homosexuality] passed anyway, but we are mindful of the fact that it would also be beneficial for the government. They can show the international community, especially the West, that they pushed progressive reform, while cracking down on protests here,” Chandimal says.
That is also why the long struggle for queer people’s rights must be broadened through more conversation within the community, and in solidarity with other ongoing struggles, according to Pasan Jayasinghe, a Ph.D researcher in Sri Lanka. “There are many struggles that queer people face, in trying to access education, public transport or other services, finding housing, jobs. Economic precarity pushes some into sex work for survival, making them targets of harassment,” he says.
The “Bill in itself” is a positive step, in his view, but marginalised communities are “always forced into these games” where they must support reform “packaged in a particular way”, while there is an unmistakable assault on other democratic rights and freedoms.
In the long fight for equality in Sri Lanka, be it that of the Malaiyaha (hill country) Tamils, those in the north and east, or more recently the Muslims, who have faced structural discrimination and state violence, this is a recurring question.
Combating hate online
“Even in this instance, if the government had introduced this as its own bill, with cabinet backing, it would have perhaps not opened up space for the hateful, queer-phobic rhetoric we see on social media from those opposing the Bill,” Jayasinghe says.
Combating baseless attacks on social media is “simply draining”, agrees Angel Queentus, founder-director of the Jaffna Transgender Network. “It’s a struggle with our families, the society, the state and with the community on social media. It’s exhausting!” In such a context, the Bill is “very welcome”, given the humiliation and harassment members of the queer community are put through every day, she says.
“We are in solidarity with all those who petitioned on our behalf. We must work to strengthen our networks across the country, especially outside Colombo, to ensure that all voices are amplified,” she says.
Queentus is also keenly tracking the struggle for queer rights in India, including the ongoing Supreme Court hearing on marriage equality. “I am closely following the struggle for higher reservations for transpersons in government jobs in Tamil Nadu.”
Queer rights activists value solidarity networks across borders to support each other and strengthen their own movements. “Decriminalising Section 377 in India in 2018 was such a big win, and now the case on marriage equality is also very significant. We are following every moment of the case with great interest, and are constantly in touch with our friends there,” says Flamer-Caldera. “A positive step in any of our countries tends to have a reverberating effect in the region.”