A REVIEW ON DISCRIMINATION OVER LGBT+ IN SRI LANKA

Author: W. G. Maneesha Sasandaree

Abstract

Sri Lanka as a country is being a member of numerous human rights organizations and has ratified several human rights conventions. Additionally, civilians are fighting against infringement of human rights. But they do not recognize LGBT+ individuals as humans. Even issues relating to the LGBT+ community are not freely discussed because of conventional cultural standards. But they openly discriminate against this community by virtue of tradition. In terms of historical, social, cultural, religious, political, and legal settings, they consider the LGBT+ concept to be unlawful. Through the socialization, this discrimination spreads throughout all societal institutions, including educational, religious and political, after beginning from the family. Although several NGOs and campaigns have been launched to advocate for LGBT+ rights, this condition has not changed much. As a result, many LGBT+s live under pressure with fear and lost expectations. Since these individuals face higher levels of psychological stress and suicidality, the effects of this prejudice are serious. Despite the fact that few people embrace the idea of the third gender, many more people abuse their rights. Since majority of the studies on LGBT+ issues primarily took the legal context into account, this study aims to close the scholarly gaps in the field. Therefore this study examines how discrimination occurs, its impacts and the ways of eliminating this discrimination from a variety of angles. Finally, it is recommended that the LGBT+ community should receive the same respect as other humans since all humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Keywords: community, discrimination, LGBT+, rights, sexuality

 

How to Cite: Sasandaree, W. G. M., 2023. A Review on Discrimination over LGBT+ in Sri Lanka. ‘Pumithiri e-journal of Gender Studies, 2(1), pp.41-50.

Published on 08 Mar 2023