Bill for LGBTQ+ rights handed to President

A bill to amend the Penal Code with the aim of protecting the rights of the LGBTQ+ communities in Sri Lanka was handed over to President Ranil Wickramasinghe last week (24) by MP Attorney-at-Law Premanath C. Dolawatta. This bill to amend the Penal Code (Amendment) Act was submitted to Parliament on Tuesday (23) by the MP as a private motion.

The draft bill says that the society of this country has an extremely backward idea regarding the LGBTQ+ community and because of this, not only in daily life activities but even in government and law enforcement agencies, this community has been subjected to various forms of violence, oppression and harassment. Also, in some cases, even the basic rights confirmed by the constitution have been violated. Punishment of individuals based on sexual orientation and sexual beliefs was spread throughout the world by colonial legal systems in the Victorian era. But in modern psychiatry, this is not considered a crime or a perversion. The developed countries have worked to amend the laws and regulations that penalize this community and limit their rights.