A Colourful & Joyous COLOMBO PRIDE 2022

For the 18th consecutive year, EQUAL GROUND brought Pride to Sri Lanka, in a vibrant, diverse, and joyful celebration, in the month of June.  Colombo PRIDE 2022 focused on the theme ‘Resilient and Unsilenced’, depicting the determination of our community to fight for what we want and what we are.  As always, it encouraged and inspired the LGBTIQ community to …

அன்போடு வாழுங்கள் ආදරෙන් ඉමු Live with Love

07 June 2022: All of us are Sri Lankans, living in the same country sharing the same space. We as Sri Lankans deeply value togetherness, empathy, and being respectful towards each other. We are all human beings, regardless of our perceived differences.With these ideas in mind, EQUAL GROUND presents its latest social awareness campaign ‘Live with Love’, to create more …

UN rights body rules that criminalisation of same-sex relations between consenting women is a human rights violation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: COLOMBO, 24 March 2022 “Major win for Sri Lanka’s LGBTIQ community,” says EQUAL GROUND EQUAL GROUND welcomes a landmark decision by a UN human rights body which has found that the criminalisation of consensual, same-sex relations between women in Sri Lanka is a human rights violation. The decision in a case brought by Rosanna Flamer-Caldera to the …

EQUAL GROUND Launches Abhimani Queer Film Festival 2022 with a Screening of ‘Funny Boy’

COLOMBO, 01 MARCH 2022 When thinking about sectarian violence and the division of people, whether it is in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine or anywhere in the world, the damage done is devastating, a world-renowned filmmaker said recently. The award-winning director of Funny Boy and Water, Deepa Mehta made these timely comments on Friday (25) at the launch of …

EQUAL GROUND WEBINAR SERIES ‘Win-Win with D&I: Working Towards Diversity and Inclusion through Business-CSO Partnerships’

ABOUT THE WEBINAR SERIES   In the corporate world, Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) refers to hiring individuals regardless of their age, gender, sexuality, race, religion, physical abilities, mental health, backgrounds, and experiences, so long as they fit the company values and can carry out their roles. It also means that these individuals are compensated fairly and are treated without discrimination …

*BREAKING NEWS* Court Of Appeal grants leave to proceed with EQUAL GROUND’s Writ petition against Police, Ama Dissanayake over homophobia and discrimination

On Wednesday (08 December 2021), the Court of Appeal granted leave to proceed with a petition filed by EQUAL GROUND and others, against the Inspector General of Police C. D. Wickramaratane, Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Kandy range Chandana Alahakoon, and purported counsellor and trainer, Ama Dissanayake for allegedly violating the rights of and discriminating against the Lesbian, …

Court of Appeal allows EQUAL GROUND and others to serve notice to Police, Ama Dissanayake over homophobic training

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE COLOMBO, 16 NOVEMBER 2021: On Friday (12), the Court of Appeal granted permission to serve notice to Inspector General of Police C. D. Wickramaratane, Deputy Inspector General of Police of the Kandy range Chandana Alahakoon, and purported counsellor and trainer, Ama Dissanayake, who conducted a training programme for police officers of Kandy and Matale, at the Kandy …

A Study on Workplace Discrimination in Sri Lanka

EQUAL GROUND’S latest survey on LGBTIQ employees’ experiences in the workplace revealed that many of them struggle with revealing their Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity/Expression and being their true selves at the workplace due to discrimination and harassment. 58% of the respondents stated that they have experienced verbal harassment and 31% said they have experienced sexual harassment. 44% said they …

‘Dedunu Sawiya’ – Sri Lanka’s only LGBTIQ-friendly career space

Owing to Sri Lanka’s legal landscape and social stigmas, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTIQ) community faces discrimination on a daily basis. As such, one of the biggest challenges LGBTIQ individuals face is finding and retaining employment. Research shows that they face higher levels of harassment and discrimination at workplaces and are more likely to be fired …

#PronounsMatter Campaign

Pronouns are how we refer to other people. In Sri Lanka – as in many other parts of the world – pronouns generally indicate gender. Traditionally used pronouns are she/her/hers and he/him/his which indicate gender. These are commonly used by cis gender individuals (those whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with the sex assigned to them at birth). …