Supreme Court dismisses petition challenging gender identity circulars

Colombo, July 20 (Daily Mirror) - A Fundamental Rights petition challenging the legality of Government circulars permitting individuals to change their gender identity through medical procedures was today dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The petition was filed by retired Sri Lanka Air Force veteran Shantha Jayathilaka, naming former Presidents Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe, incumbent President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and several others as respondents.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Arjuna Obeyesekere, dismissed the petition after considering the preliminary objections raised by the respondents, including that it was time-barred.

The petitioner alleged that successive governments, including the present administration, had facilitated gender transition procedures in a manner contrary to the law.

In his petition, Jayathilaka argued that Sri Lankan law does not permit a person to change their sex from male to female or from female to male through surgery, without what he described as a biological basis. He further alleged that, under guidelines issued in 2016 by the then Director General of Health Services, individuals had been allowed to change their gender identity based on recommendations made by psychiatrists.