By Rashika Fazali
Just imagine two people romantically in love with each other. After being together for a few years, they wanted to marry and start a family of their own. But, there was one problem. They are both guys: two guys in love with each other, and unfortunately in Sri Lanka, same-sex relationships are illegal and considered immoral and socially unacceptable.
Now put yourself in their shoes. Can you imagine not being able to be with the one you love, to not have children and to always be stared at and judged because of who you love? Forget about marriage, but simply loving someone of your own sex is taboo. You cannot hold hands in public. You cannot kiss your lover on the lips. You cannot touch him/her like a straight person would do to his/her partner because society frowns upon it and the country forbids it with its laws that goes against human rights.
For centuries, our social norms have helped us validate our feelings and doings. It is constructed in such a way that the minute we step out of the norm, we are labelled as unorthodox. We have the freedom of speech which extends to the freedom of choosing what we want or like and that also includes the freedom to love and marry whoever we please. But sadly, the right to love any one still needs to fit in within social and cultural norms. Anything outside of this is prohibited. But who says so?
Is Religion the Problem?
Religion does and has largely influenced a country’s and society’s rule. It is the most socially constructed ideology which governs human life and helps people shape or distinguish between right and wrong, at least for majority of the people, but not exclusively as seen in one study that revealed that religious people didn’t commit more moral acts than non-religious people although they committed less immoral acts than their counterparts and were more self-conscious about emotions such as guilt and disgust. This doesn’t mean that people are less religious. A WIN/Gallup International survey published in 2017 revealed that 62% of people in the world defined themselves as religious with 71% believing in God. Another study complied by the Telegraph paper in 2018 utilized the results of 3 surveys done by WIN/Gallup International in 2008, 2009 and 2015 and named Sri Lanka as one of the most religious countries in the world with a 99% rating. So we can agree that religion is important to Sri Lankans.
So what does religion say? Most religions blatantly condemns same-sex relations. In Islam, the Quran states the story of Lot’s people destroyed by God for engaging in same-sex acts (Surah 7, verse 80-84). In the Bible, the Book of Leviticus 20:13 (English standard version) states that ‘if a man lies with another male, both of them will be considered an abomination and should be put to death’. This is also reinforced in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 to 11 (English standard version). On the other hand, Hindus are divided in their belief towards homosexuality. Some are accepting due to the ancient depictions of homosexuals while others believe it violates their own dharma. But in Buddhism, there is no rejection or mention of homosexuality. Instead one of the five precepts of Buddhism is to refrain from sexual misconduct referring to the importance of consent. You would believe that as a predominant Buddhist country we would be more accepting of same-sex relationships, but the problem with religion is not so much with religion most often than with how humans have translated certain scriptures and used them out of context.
But there are rules in every religion that are bigger than condemning homosexuality. Religion iterates and preaches us to love and respect everyone regardless of their gender, age, intelligence, race, religion, sexuality and even their faults. It the same order that teaches us that every human is equal in the eyes of God. A homosexual can be just as religious or even better than any heterosexual. So condemning one’s sexuality because it doesn’t concord with our values, societal rules or religion doesn’t make heterosexuals better or righteous human beings. Our capability to do good doesn’t come from one’s sexuality. Once we learn to separate those two entities, we will be able to see the issue at hand clearly.
Forming and Understanding Beliefs and Laws
Unfortunately, it’s easier said than done. Most humans strangely have no inkling to form their own beliefs and ideas even with the help of research and evidence. Not having intellectual autonomy is a problem. We blindly believe information and follow rules, religion and absolutely anything without giving it much thought. We hardly ever question a country’s law either. But we cannot reject that country laws didn’t derive from religious laws.
What do our laws tell us? In the Sri Lankan constitution, under Chapter 3 – fundamental rights – Article 10 states that ‘every person is entitled to their freedom of thought, conscience and religion including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or a belief of his choice’. As a citizen, this states that I have a right to my own moral sense of what is right and wrong and to believe in ethics and principles of my own which also includes religion. Furthermore, Article 12 part 2 states that ‘no citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any one of such grounds…’. In Chapter 6 – directive principles of state and policy and fundamental duties – Article 28 states that it is the duty of every Sri Lankan to respect the rights and freedoms of others. We see these similar laws in religions preaching humans to be kind, respectful, and we also see the level of freedom granted to humans.
In order to influence a majority of the population to think differently, governments need to change certain laws – laws that are detrimental to the very existence of human rights. Article 365 of the Sri Lankan Penal Code states that ‘whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman, or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine’. This clearly states that homosexuality is a criminal offense.
Let’s look at the above statements in detail. We do know that we have the right to freedom, to loving whoever we want to our right to follow any religion. Furthermore, Sri Lankan law states that no person or organisation can treat any individual differently and unfairly based on certain attributes including an individual’s gender or sexual preferences. But we openly discriminate homosexuals and their Sri Lankan right to freedom and to love. What’s worse is that we have also criminalised an act of love and consensual sexual intercourse between two people of the same sex. This is mainly due to same-sex relations being ‘against the order of nature’. Religions such as Islam and Christianity claim that God intended man to be with a woman and vice versa, and anyone going against that and following something else is going against what God ordained.
News From Around the World
At the moment, 29 countries have legalised same-sex marriages with Costa Rica becoming the latest and the first Central American country to pass a bill allowing same-sex marriages. In the coming months, Andorra may become the 30th country to legalise same-sex marriages. In May of last year, Taiwan10 became the first Asian country to rule in favour of same-sex marriages. Our neighbouring country, India made news in 2018 when they legalised homosexuality. However, they still have a long way to go in legalising same-sex marriages and allowing child adoption for same-sex couples to take place. Also take note that Sri Lanka’s Penal Code was based on Indian law. So if India managed to overrule a colonial era law by understanding that (1) it’s context was against human right, (2) community beliefs and values change over time, and (3) the law no longer applied to today’s reality, we can only hope that Sri Lanka learns from India and revises the same law one day.
Two steps forward. One step back. Sadly, the ILGA Europe Rainbow Map revealed that countries are regressing in establishing LGBTQ rights for the second time in a row. Hungary had the most drastic drop from 19th place in 2019 to 27th place in 2020 losing 8.46% points due to lawmakers having voted against the changing of gender laws and recognition in legal documents. Hungarians can no longer legally change their identity on paper and must be assigned to whichever gender given to them at birth. Last December in Nigeria, the first set of 47 men went on trial for engaging in same-sex public display of actions under the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act which can sentence one to 10 years in prison.
But we must not be disheartened. Every revision or enactment of law takes time, energy and a lot of activism. After years of workplace gender discrimination towards LGBTQ workers in the US and many more lawsuits after, the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of the LGBTQ community a few days ago stating that no employee can be fired or discriminated based on their sexual orientation or transgender status. Though same-sex marriages are legal in the US, there was no protection extended towards the LGTBQ community against workplace gender discrimination which pushed many people to hide their identity in fear of being discriminated, called out or even let go from their job. In other news, in February of this year, 63.1% of Swiss citizens voted in favour of the LGBTQ protection bill which would make discrimination against gender or sexual orientation illegal in the country.
Are We Really Born Free and Equal?
On a global scale, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNHR) Article 1 states that ‘all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’. It doesn’t matter who or what you are – whether you’re a Sri Lankan or an African, the colour of your skin, the religion you believe in, the sexuality you identify with, and the social status you belong to; All that matters is that we are born freely with human rights in place. But these statements contradict each other. Human treatment is not equal. Look at what’s happening in America. They wouldn’t have to create the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement if equality existed. We wouldn’t also have religious clashes and riots in our country. Neither would we have police brutality if human conduct happens fairly and unbiasedly. On top of that, we also treat people differently based on sexuality. Some don’t even want to associate with homosexuals in fear that they’ll “catch” this “disease”. So where is their right? Heterosexual or homosexual, we are all homo sapiens.
To allow progression to take place in Sri Lanka and to make a significant improvement for our future generation, we have to reform the homosexuality law first by decriminalising this act and then by educating society. We have to strive for a better system that looks at humanity first. By achieving this, we teach Sri Lankans to look away from one’s sexuality when associating with people because one’s character, work or social status has no correlation to who they love and/or sleep with. We need to take that out of the equation and instead focus our energy in empowering the community to work towards equality for all. If you want to judge someone, base it on one’s character and work, but not on one’s sexuality. My sexuality is not your business.
Is this so hard to do?
(Editors Note: This article was written exclusively for bakamoono.lk and at the time of publication had not appeared in this form in any other publication)