Enhanced protection for LGBTQ+ communities on the way at last

President receives draft amendment to Penal Code

SLPP National List member and Attorney-at-Law Premanath C. Dolawatta yesterday (24) handed over a bill to amend the Penal Code with the aim of protecting the rights of the LGBTQ+ communities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) in Sri Lanka to President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

This bill to amend the Penal Code was submitted to the Parliament on Tuesday (23) by MP Premanath C. Dolawatta as a Private Member’s Bill.

The EU and the UK have been pressuring Sri Lanka to enact laws to protect such communities.

The Presidential Media Division (PMD) issued the following statement yesterday: “The society of this country has an extremely backward notion regarding the LGBTQ + community and as a result, not only in daily life, but even in government and law enforcement agencies, this community has been subjected to various forms of violence, oppression and harassment.

At times, even their democratic basic rights have been violated.

Punishment of individuals based on sexual orientation and sexual identification 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. Also, developed countries have worked to amend the laws that penalize this community and limit their rights.

Having taken these factors into consideration, Parliamentarian Premanath C. Dolawatte has submitted this Private Member’s Bill.”