A Resource for Women's Rights Organizations in Sri Lanka

This resource focuses on assisting women’s rights organizations in Sri Lanka to engage with lesbian women, bisexual women, and transpersons – particularly those whose families, extended families and/or loved ones are being/have been violent to them or are being/have been discriminated against.

There is a perceived need for social justice activists, women’s rights activists and movements, counselors, befrienders, social workers and psychologists in Sri Lanka to be able to work more effectively on issues of violence and discrimination with individuals who may not identify as heterosexual and whose gender identity may not correspond to the gender assigned at birth. In producing this resource, we are trying to attend to this need.

Whether or not women’s organizations work directly on domestic and/or family violence, they often encounter women affected by these issues. While the nature of their activism brings them into contact with such issues, many community-based groups also tend to have the pulse on their communities. Some women’s organizations in the country have been early responders in cases of domestic and family violence affecting lesbian women, bisexual women and transpersons, and are often seen by LBT persons as safe spaces.