Equal Ground is the only organisation in Sri Lanka to hold annual PRIDE celebrations – an important event in the Sri Lankan LGBTIQ calendar. Equal Ground works very hard to provide for the needs of the community each year giving the LGBTIQ community of Sri Lanka the space to stand up tall and be proud of who and what they are. PRIDE in Sri Lanka is currently on a small scale and whilst we hope to one day march the streets demanding our rights, the current political climate coupled with the oppressive laws against LGBTIQ persons, impedes a peaceful march. Therefore, PRIDE celebrations take place as private, yet very public functions attended by persons from all over Sri Lanka. PRIDE has grown from strength to strength. Each year a diverse range of events are held to encourage the Queer community to come out and be proud. It is also an educational and sensitizing exercise where the message of diversity is addressed in a holistic way paving for better understanding and acceptance of the Queer community by the larger Sri Lankan citizenship. Events include workshops, dramas/shows/musicals, film festivals, art & photo exhibitions, parties, the kite festival and so on.
An interesting array of events are scheduled for this year’s biggest PRIDE celebration in Sri Lanka. For more details on each and every event, please check out our Colombo PRIDE Facebook page. Colombo PRIDE is one of the oldest PRIDE Festivals in South Asia launching in 2005 with a modest Pride Party. In 2006, for the first time, a week long schedule of events was planned to great success. Since then Colombo PRIDE has grown in strength, not only in numbers attending but also the number of varied events that have been presented over the years.
An integral part of Colombo PRIDE has always been the LGBTIQ Film Festival. Formally known as “Celluloid Rainbows”, Abhimani is the only International LGBTIQ film festival in Sri Lanka and the oldest LGBTIQ Film Festival in South Asia. It is held each year in conjunction with Colombo PRIDE and presents a collection of Queer short and feature length films from countries around the globe.
We thank our loyal sponsors and partners without who’s assistance this would not be possible!
Happy PRIDE!
Source – Equal Ground
