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Sinhalese Sexual Minorities

Sinhalese sexual minorities are lgbtquia people that have ancestry to the relavent ethnolingustic group in Sri Lanka.

The dominant source for homophobia and other discriminations within the Sinhalese community can be traced back to colonialism and missionaries. The two laws currently found in the criminal code of the island, 365 and 365A, both date back to British colonialism.

Discrimination

Healthcare

LGBT are often denied access to healthcare due to discrimination at a healthcare provider, and NGOs estimate that nearly one-quarter of sexual minorities have had to face discrimination from healthcare providers.It is often said that sexual minorities who need to have medical work done to support their gender often find it hard to find specialized hospital clinics or are forced to go private.

Marriage

The concept of gay marriage is not recognized by the legal system of the island, and conversely the idea of gay marriage as a right may not seem as important due to how marriage is seen in the cultures of Hinduism and Buddhism. It is also not possible to obtain partner rights (also known as cohabitation rights) on the island though only a limited number of rights are provided to married couples (notably the ability to access pension funds early and inheritance rights).

There have been attempts to hold a wedding ceremony on the island. A notable case involved a wedding between an under-aged spouse where the two participants and the conductor were arrested by the police.

A thriving marriage market aimed at tourists exists on the island however.

Religion

The LGBT community in Sri Lanka has a notable affection towards their religious traditions. Hinduism and Buddhism are the two main influences on the island and are respectively followed as ethnoreligious cultures by the Tamils and Sinhalese. Neither has sought to impose homophobic morals onto the population, with Hinduism even going as far to promote homosexual relations, albeit Buddhism refrains from any action that's considered to be sex purely for pleasure.

Sri Lanka's two dominant religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, do not condemn homosexuality. The former talks about homosexuals using positive descriptions, including tips on how to have better homosexual sex in the Kama Sutra, while the latter's view on 'sexual misconduct' can affect liberal sexual activity among both heterosexuals and homosexuals.

Equal Ground explained that a number of transsexuals and transgendered people take refuge in the Buddhist order when disowned or pushed away by their families, such as by becoming a monk at a temple or monastery.

See Also

Sexual Minorities in Sri Lanka

Tamil Sexual Minorities