Many, especially the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and activists, remain hopeful of having the laws that criminalise and discriminate that community, i.e. Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code, repealed, following the private Member Bill, recently presented by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Government Parliamentarian, Attorney Premnath C. Dolawatte. Although the Bill has been challenged in the Supreme Court (SC), intervenient petitions have been filed by a number of parties including LGBT and rights activists, legal professionals and civil society organisations in support of the Bill, emphasising that implementing the reforms proposed via the Bill do not affect any other party and that what they actually do is free this community of unfair and discriminatory legal burdens.

If the Bill was passed and also the Amendments proposed through it are implemented, that would be the beginning of major changes in Sri Lanka’s socio-economic-political climates concerning the LGBT community. In a context where the SC has remarked that consensual sex between adults should not be policed by the State, and should not be grounds for criminalisation in a 2016 case (Wimalasiri vs. Officer-in-Charge, Police Station, Maradana, and Another), and India, which scrapped its legal system’s provisions that criminalised homosexuality which were considerably similar to Sri Lanka’s laws, a lot of the work that is to be done regarding the legal reforms proposed through the Bill, concern the Parliament.

Ensuring that this Bill gets passed in the Parliament, which in turn will immediately provide some sort of legal recognition for the country’s LGBT community and will pave the way for major changes in the foreseeable future, is not just the duty of LGBT activists or civil society organisations. Ideally, the country’s political authority has a massive responsibility in this regard. The first step, i.e. proposing amendments to the said discriminatory laws, has already been taken, and what is necessary now is the support of the overall political authority. Many members of the Parliamentary Opposition parties have already expressed support to the Bill, while some of them have even openly made statements to the effect that Sri Lanka should decriminalise homosexuality and thereby uphold the constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights of this community. 

There have also been positive responses from the Government’s side as well, with Dolawatte being a vociferous Member of the ruling SLPP. SLPP Member and Foreign Affairs Minister, President’s Counsel M.U.M. Ali Sabry, as well as former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa have also made statements in support of adopting legal provisions that ensure that people are not discriminated against, for their sexual orientation and gender identity. Many LGBT activists remain hopeful that President and Minister of National Policies Ranil Wickremesinghe would support the above-mentioned amendments, in a context where he has gained a name as an open minded leader with an international background and has said that his Government would not oppose a Bill that aims to decriminalise homosexuality.

As was reported by The Daily Morning, the SLPP has permitted its Members to use their vote during the debate on the Bill in accordance with their conscience. While this is indeed a positive move on the part of the Government in this historic juncture concerning the rights of the LGBT community, taking a more active stance regarding the Bill would set a good example. In this case, Members of the Government that are in charge of human rights, welfare, law and order, and public security have a duty to weigh in on the decisions pertaining to the passage of the Bill and its implementation as an Act.

The Government should also take into account the long-term changes this Bill will lead to, especially since most of those changes would be in the Government’s favour. This Government would enter history books as the Government that emancipated the country’s LGBT community from two of the most discriminatory laws, and that is certainly a victory both in terms of human rights and politics. At the same time, in a context where a number of parties expect the country to be more human rights friendly, the passage of the Bill would be helpful in repairing to some extent the country’s human rights record, which would in turn play a role in obtaining the much needed international support.