EQUAL GROUND

Location: Sri Lanka

Focus: Community building and decriminalisation

Website: https://www.facebook.com/EQUALGROUND/

EQUAL GROUND campaign to decriminalise adult consenting, same-sex relations, and achieve equal rights for the LGBTQI community in Sri Lanka.  

With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, the government used the health crisis to increasingly monitor activists. In June 2020, the President established a Task Force to create a “virtuous society” and stamp out “anti-social behaviour”, threatening the LGBTQI community. 

The pandemic hit the community hard. Many thrown out by their families were ineligible for government support as they were not part of a ‘family unit’. Lockdowns had psychological impacts, as people were forced to repress their identity or face their hostile families. EQUAL GROUND continued to work with the community, providing virtual events, community spaces and emergency support.  

In November 2020, EQUAL GROUND submitted recommendations to the Constitutional Reform Committee to include SOGIE as a protected characteristic. They also carried out research culminating in the report, ‘Mapping LGBTQI Identities in Sri Lanka’ – the first of its kind in the country – which revealed that 12% of the adult population identify as LGBTQI. In February 2021, they launched the first LGBTQI career site on the island, offering a safe virtual space for job seekers and employers. In 2021, GiveOut’s grant will support EQUAL GROUND’S core costs as they continue decriminalisation efforts in Sri Lanka and achieving equal rights for the community. 

Find out more about EQUAL GROUND’s work in this interview with Executive Director, Rosanna Flamer-Caldera:

GiveOut is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registered Charity Number 1176434).