The Sri Lankan government has expressed its support for a bill that would decriminalize same-sex relationships. The country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Sabry, stated that the government will support the position of decriminalizing same-sex relationships, but not legalize same-sex marriages. The bill is a Private Member Bill initiated by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Government MP and Attorney Premnath C. Dolawatte.
Under the country’s penal code, which dates back to the British colonial rule of Ceylon, article 365 currently criminalizes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature any man, woman, or animal” with a penalty of up to ten years in prison. Although the law was previously deemed unenforceable by Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court, it remains on the books.
The support for the bill comes as several other former British colonies have decriminalized anti-LGBTQ+ laws in recent months. Singapore repealed its colonial-era sodomy law in November, while judges in St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda also struck down criminalization statutes. The majority of the 67 countries that still criminalize private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity are Commonwealth jurisdictions.