The Women's Support Group (WSG) is a Sri Lankan organisation dedicated to helping

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

women. It was set up in 1999 by amongst others

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera Rosanna Flamer-Caldera (born March 18, 1956) is a Sri Lankan LGBT rights activist. She lived in the US for over a decade and when she returned to Sri Lanka, she became the female Asian representative to ILGA and later its co-secretary general. She ...

. It has won the Felipa de Souza Award twice.

History

The Women's Support Group (WSG) was set up in 1999 as an offshoot from

Companions on a Journey Companions on a Journey (CoJ) is a Sri Lankan LGBT support group founded in 1995. It campaigns to change the laws which criminalise homosexuality and to educate people about sexuality. The Women's Support Group grew out of CoJ, the two organisation ...

. The founders had joined CoJ and set up a support group for

and

women, which then took on its own identity over time. The group organised a national convention for lesbians in 1999 which encountered hostility and the group also experienced discrimination from the rest of the women's movement; at the first International Women’s Day meeting at

Viharamahadevi Park Viharamahadevi Park ( si, විහාරමහාදේවී උද්‍යානය; formerly Victoria Park, si, වික්ටෝරියා පාක්) is a public park located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, situated in front of the colon ...

, some women were upset that the WSG was there and

Sunila Abeysekera Sunila Abeysekera (September 4 1952 – September 9, 2013) was a Sri Lankan human rights campaigner. She worked on women's rights in Sri Lanka and in the South Asia region for decades as an activist and scholar. Quitting a career as a singer, Abeyse ...

had to intercede on their behalf. In 2003, around 20 women were involved. The activities of the WSG in the early 2000s included workshops in rural areas about sexuality, women’s cricket tournaments, media campaigns and "The Clothesline Project" which drew attention to the issue of violence against women. As of 2007, the WSG ran a library, a safe house in Colombo and various support groups.

Awards

The Women’s Support Group won the Felipa de Souza Award in 2001, alongside Companions on a Journey. It won the award again in 2014, shared jointly with

Gay Japan News GayJapanNews is a web-based news service in the Japanese language specializing in LGBT issues from around the world. The service was launched in 2005 to increase the visibility of gays and lesbians, whose presence is negligible in traditional media ...

, KRYSS (Malaysia), O (Pakistan) and the Rainbow Rights Project (Philippines).

References

{{Authority control 1999 establishments in Sri Lanka Human rights organisations based in Sri Lanka LGBT rights in Sri Lanka LGBT political advocacy groups in Sri Lanka Felipa de Souza Award Feminism in Sri Lanka Women's rights in Sri Lanka

History

Awards

See also

References