Description
The queer movement in Sri Lanka has often been elided into the liberal civic space and neglected both in the scholarly discourse and praxis of queer politics in the region. In addressing the gap, this chapter seeks to understand the ways in which queer movements in Sri Lanka evolve in the contemporary post-war and transitional political landscape. I focus on how queer movement in Sri Lanka responded to the period of 52 days of constitutional coup from late October 2018 – a critical juncture of the transitional period in Sri Lanka.
In late October, 2018 President Maithreepaala Sirisena removed Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and eventually suspended the parliament which was later declared unconstitutional by the supreme court of Sri Lanka paving the way to the restoration of the prime minister and the cabinet. During the period between the removal of the prime minister and the Supreme Court ruling the island nation has witnessed unprecedented level of public protest demanding democracy and president to respect the rights of the people. During the coup, President and his aides accused sacked prime minister and his closed circles of decision makers are ‘Butterflies’ a term that is widely understood as derogatory and carries the meaning of effeminate men with irresponsible behaviour. President’s accusation was regarded as a hate speech against queer community in Sri Lanka and was proactively responded by the queer communities and allies in a common front called ‘Butterflies for Democracy’ (B4D).
Since then, B4D was able to exploit the momentum against president Sirisena. It has strategically aligned demand for democracy with queer rights. B4D emerged as not just a movement for queer rights but also for democracy through its intersectional approach to the crisis which paved way for mainstreaming and cultivating much needed empathy for queer rights in Sri Lanka. It has elevated the queer movement in Sri Lanka from being mono-causal to multi-front intersectional political agency. This paper traces the strategies, trends and ideas deployed by the B4D during late October 2018 to January 2019. The study is also informed by the reflective approach as the author is also part of the B4D movement. In addition to that, further data collected through interviews with activists who had been part of the B4D and an archival research. The B4D movement was able to successfully exploit the momentum created by an injurious speech in Judith Butler terms. It presents a relatively success story of a queer movement in global south particularly a conflict affected country with populist nationalism and how queer movement in the global south can deploy intersectional approach in mainstreaming queer rights. B4D was able to device political strategy which brought queer rights of the queer communities and democratic rights of the citizens of Sri Lanka and thereby creating an intersectional political struggle that led to increased support for the queer rights in Sri Lanka.
