Discrimination Against Transgender People in Public Gathering Spaces: A Study Based in Colombo District, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka only consists a Gender Acceptance Index (GAI) of 3.23, which is drastically low when compared to countries like Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Netherlands which encompass a GAI over 9, according to the GAI 2017-2020. Therefore, favourable living standards for gender minorities cannot be expected in Sri Lanka. Transgender people as a sexual minority, tend to face gender-based violence and discrimination from a society dominated by the gender binary view. There are many studies regarding the discrimination towards LGBTQ+ community in Sri Lanka as a whole. When particularly considering Transgender people, certain studies have been conducted focusing on the discrimination against them in the sense of police brutality and legal settings. However, the Discriminations they face in public gathering spaces like restaurants, streets and public transportation where many people assemble, is lacking in the existing literature. This research thus aims to investigate the violence and discrimination experienced by transgender people in public gathering spaces and to obtain suggestions to mitigate the marginalization of transgender people in Sri Lanka. This research is based on the primary data collected by the researcher and Qualitative Research Methodology was used to conduct this research. Direct observation and semi-structured interview methods were used to collect primary data and the research sample was comprised of 20 transgender people. The Narrative Analysis method was used to analyse the collected data. According to the research findings, transgender individuals are scared of going places where many people gather as they are subject to experience discrimination verbally, physically and sexually. All of the respondents (20/20) have experienced physical violence at least once in their lifetime. Mostly, trans women get sexually harassed when using public transportation modes and walking along public streets. Research findings claim that transgender people hesitate to visit shops and restaurants where many people accumulate due to their fear of being discriminated against even through verbal means. Providing sex education including the third gender, implementing new laws and policies to recognize and protect the rights of transgender people and to encouraging social activists and academics to make people aware of transgenderism was obtained as suggestions to mitigate the marginalization of transgender individuals in Sri Lanka.