19 January 2017 08:12 am
One of the leading LGBTQ rights activists and Executive Director of the Equal Ground, Rosanna Flamer-Caldera said the decision was absurd.
“This move only portrays that the government would rather continue to discriminate a community based on their sexual orientation and to marginalize them than repealing a 134-year old archaic laws imposed by the British,” she said.
She urged the government to fight for the rights of the discriminated people and challenged if there is anyone who says that decriminalizing homosexuality is against Dhamma, to prove it.
“Why we should embrace western Christian laws and not accept peace, acceptance and tolerance practiced in Buddhism.
After all this is a Buddhist country not a Christian country,” she said. Former Human Rights Commissioner and Rights Activist Prathiba Mahanamahewa said, though it was rejected, the proposal submitted by the government to decriminalize homosexuality by repealing section 365 and 365A of the Penal Code was brave and strong.
He criticized the government of having no proper mechanism to spread awareness of the issue and its lack of backing to commit to the issue.
“Though a proposal had been made, there is no one to take responsibility of the proposal. This attempt is not to legalise gay marriages or as such, it’s simply about decriminalizing homosexuality. The government had clearly failed to send the message across,” he said.
He said the Sri Lankan LGBTQ community was inactive compared with that of in India and Bangladesh and said even lawmakers were also silent about the issue.
“If there are any lawmakers who are gay or lesbian, they are not raising any voice for their rights. They are not even admitting to anything.
These people are simply worried about the next election and their voters’ base. They would rather have a larger voter base than fighting for human rights,” he said.
He said cultural and social resistance could arise when repealing the penal code but it could be averted with awareness. “The people should have a right to select their own partner. This is a human right issue which has been psychologically and scientifically proved,” he said.
Meanwhile, rights activist Milinda Rajapaksha, who was with youth organizations in India when Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuality in 2009, said rights organizations in Sri Lanka should take the issue to the court following India.
“In India, it was not the government which intervened into the matter. It was civil societies and rights activists sought legal protection for human rights and they won. It’s time we should do the same,” he said.
Project Officer of Equal Ground Thushara Manoj said the words ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ should be included in Constitution foremost before decriminalizing homosexuality. “Once we have these words, we can gradually decriminalize.
Decriminalizing homosexuality is not something we can do right away and Sri Lankan Gay Community is not asking for marriage rights. They simply want equal human rights and recognition,” he said. He said it was wrong and unwise for the government to list GSP+ as causality to decriminalize homosexuality. Another activist Hans Billimoria simply said its time that we moved away from the dark ages. “It’s 2017, not 1800s anymore,” he said. (By Lahiru Pothmulla)
Govt. would rather continue to discriminate against a community based on their sexual orientation than repealing British laws
Though rejected, the proposal submitted by Govt. to repeal sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code was brave and strong
It’s time that we moved away from the dark ages. “It’s 2017, not 1800s anymore
In India, it was not the govt. but was the rights activists who sought legal protection for human rights and won
Thushara Manoj
The words ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ should be included in Constitution foremost before decriminalizing homosexuality