(Reuters) — Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has given the green light to a bill that seeks to decriminalize homosexuality, the speaker of Parliament said Tuesday, in a move hailed by activists as a “historic development”.
LGBTQ rights activists in Sri Lanka campaigned for years to change the law in a country where homosexuality is still punishable by jail time and a fine, prompting the Private Members Bill to be introduced in Parliament on last month.
After hearing more than a dozen petitions from both sides of the argument, the Supreme Court ruled that it was not unconstitutional, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said.
“The Supreme Court is of the opinion that the bill in its entirety or any of its provisions is not inconsistent with the constitution,” the Court’s spokesman told Parliament.
The decision is seen as a “historic development that has raised hope for real change,” said Kaveesha Coswatte, a lawyer and advocacy officer for iProbono in Sri Lanka, who supported many of the petitions backing the bill.
Activists will still have to lobby to get the support of all 225 MPs to push the proposed legislation through parliament.
Neither the government nor the opposition have made any comment on whether they support the bill, which has been proposed for consideration by a member of Parliament, so the next steps for it to eventually become law, or not, remain unclear.
“But the door is finally open. This Supreme Court decision is important to the community in terms of any kind of progress they’ve seen in recent years,” Coswatte added.
