At the recently concluded South Asian Peoples’ Assembly held in Sri Lanka from 18th to 20th July at Vihara Maha Devi Park, Companions on a Journey, EQUAL GROUND and Womens Support Group came together in solidarity to host a booth for a congregation of South Asians from all the SAARC countries that attended the Assembly. Over a thousand publications from all three groups were picked up on this one day. Delegates thronged the booth for copies of newsletters, publications on HIV/AIDS, Same sex domestic violence, Breast and Cervical cancer and others. On Sunday, marching under one banner proclaiming ALL HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL, the three organizations marched with supporters, holding rainbow flags and banners aloft with a true sense of pride and solidarity. A truly Sri Lankan “Papare” band ensured ‘baila’ music flowed continuously during the march and the three beautiful drag queens dancing to the music, also ensured all eyes were on the Rainbow contingency! Needless to say, we were the brightest, most noisy and amazingly fabulous contingent at the parade!
We will be posting photos on the EQUAL GROUND website very soon….so stay tuned!
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EQUAL GROUND 
ALL GAYS AND LESBIANS SHUD BE JAILED…!!! THEY ARE A DESEASE ON OUR COUNTRY AND ITS FUTURE….!!!!
and yo Mama too Anti Gay Patriot!!
WE’RE GONNA GET ALL OF YOU TWISTED PEOPLE RABBIT, AND WE’RE GONNA THROW YOU IN JAIL OR IN MENTAL HOSPITALS….!!!
THAT’S THE ONLY PLACE PERVERTS LIKE YOU DESERVE TO LIVE….!!!
EQUAL GROUND IS SOON GOING TO GET QUITE A SHOCK…. 🙂
NOT EVERYONE IN AUTHORITY IS WILLING TO TURN A BLIND EYE TO YOUR PERVERSIONS OR WILLING TO LET A SO CALLED NGO THAT PROTECTS PERVERTS TO CONTINUE TO OPERATE IN THIS COUNTRY!!
wow! I’m sooooo scared! Please save me from the big bad wolfy boy Anti Gay Prick…ooops! Patriot?!! What happened sweetie, your Mama didn’t give you any today? Or is it your Daddy?
How about you come and say it face to face you anonymous coward hiding behind a pseudonym. I’d like to get it on with you – but in the end you will never show your face will you because you are to scared we are gonna smother you with rainbow flags, roll you in chocolate and feed you to the gays and lesbians!!
How absurd are you sweetie pie?
WHY DON’T YOU STOP HIDING BEHIND YOUR PSEUDONYM RABBIT? TOO SCARED TO COME OUTTA THE CLOSET ARE WE?? 🙂
I GUESS YOU DON’T NEED TO BE TOO SCARED ABOUT WHAT’S ABOUT TO HAPPEN TO EQUAL GROUND COS YOU’RE TOO DEEPLY HIDDEN IN YOUR CLOSET TO BE IDENTIFIED AS GAY OR LESBIAN OR WHATEVER OTHER FORM OF PERVERT YOU CALL YOURSELF…. LOL…!!!
BUT LET’S SEE YOU PERVERTS MARCH ON YOUR OWN WITHOUT HAVING TO HIDE BEHIND OTHER ORGANISATIONS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU…!!! 😉
You first sweetie, since you are the one who started all of this. I’ve been out and gay for years now….so have no need to hide behind anything. And I am not threatening anyone either, like you are. If you want to threaten, then come out and threaten us to our faces. Let’s face it…you are a coward….and you can go on spewing your hate as much as you wish……I will not comment any further on this vile, hate mongering, homophobic rhetoric.
And please go shout it out to people who actually give a flying toss!!
Wow! never knew that there was this much hate in one person! and Rabit, just don’t goad people like this they are obviously terribly mixed up in the head. I suggest to this person that he gets educated about things – after all we are in the 21st century now.
LOL…. LETS SEE HOW MUCH OF A FLYING TOSS YOU ACTUALLY GIVE IN A FEW MONTHS TIME RABBIT…..
AND BELIEVE ME…. WE’RE DEFINITELY GONNA BE SHOUTING ABOUT PERVS LIKE YOU TO PEOPLE WHO GIVE MUCH MORE THAN A FLYING TOSS ABOUT THE PERVERTED BEHAVIOUS THAT’S BEING INTRODUCED TO OUR YOUTH…..!!
BY THE WAY, DIDN’T YOU OR THE ORGANISERS OF THE KITE FESTIVAL KNOW ITS AGAINST THE LAW TO SERVE ALCOHOL TO MINORS??
THAT’S JUST ANOTHER WAY YOU’VE BROKEN THE LAW…. IN ADDITION TO YOUR PERVERTED SEXUAL HABITS ALSO BEING AGAINST THE LAW OF THE LAND….
“I’ve been out and gay for years now….so have no need to hide behind anything.”
AND YET YOU STRANGELY SEEM TO BE POSTING UNDER A PSEUDONYM….. LOL
AFRAID TO LET YOUR TRUE SELF SHOW??
Dear Anti Gay Patriot,
You are, of course entitled to your opinions although threats are simply unacceptable on this site. We have chosen to leave it on here so that people viewing this site can see the kinds of homophobia LGBT persons in this country have to face. However, threatening individuals who write on this blog is also certainly not acceptable. We are giving you warning that any more comments of a threatening nature will be deleted and not posted.
For your information, we did not serve any alcohol to anyone at the Kite Festival. The Kite Festival was held at a venue that happened to sell alcohol. It is up to them (the owners of the venue) to see that minors do not get served. Please do get your facts straight before you start making accusations. It seems, if you make this claim, you must have been at the Kite Festival. Of course, If you were not at the Kite Festival then you cannot know for a fact if this indeed happened.
Also, having a kite festival or a drag show is not breaking the law. Please educate yourself on the law, before you start making wild threats, which we certainly don’t appreciate. You can try and tarnish our name as much as you wish, you can also threaten us as much as you wish. You can also try and close us down. But just know that if, for some reason, EQUAL GROUND is shut down, there are plenty more LGBT persons and organisations that will spring up to fight for injustices committed on the LGBT community here in SRi Lanka and you will have a fight on your hands.
[…] https://equalground.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/lgbtiq-organisations-together-in-solidarity/ […]
EG you should not bother with person like this antigay…..they only know how to say silly things…not really meen anything…..you do good job keep it up. Pride was good…..kitefestival was also good….I had good time….congrats on the marching…..i could join next time
The call to patriotism, it is often said, is the refuge of the scoundrel, the person who has to cloak theiir virulence under a cloak of respectability. So it clearly is iin the rantings of Anti-Gay Patriot. What I see in the rantings is what I see so often in the homophobic, a psycopatholgy more destrucitve for the person suffering it that any illness the person wants to impute to us perfectly well-adjusted gays and lesbians. The need to rant the way AGP does is a clear symptom of this psychosis, as is the incoherence of what he says, It’s what we mental health workers call fugal thought, disordered thought, that frankly needs psychiatric intervention. If you come across this person, I can only suggest that you give them a wide berth as you would a rabid dog, their bite can seriously compromitse your health.
I AM NOT THREATNING ANYONE PERSONALLY ON THIS SITE…. I AM HOWEVER ACCUSING YOU SO OF BEING PERVERTED AND BREAKING THE LAW BY YOUR SEXUAL HABITS….!!
FURTHERMORE, AS TO THE POINT OF EQUAL GROUND NOT SERVING ALCOHOL AT THE KITE FESTIVAL, THE ORGANISERS OF ANY EVENT ARE ALSO HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ENSURING MINORS ARE NOT SERVED….!!
LETS SEE WHAT THE AUTHORITIES HAVE TO SAY ABOUT IT SHALL WE…???
@ PAUL,
“It’s what we mental health workers call fugal thought, disordered thought, that frankly needs psychiatric intervention.”
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IS CREATE A MENTAL HOSPITAL TO TREAT THE DERANGED GAYS AND LESBIANS IN THIS COUNTRY….!!
@ ADMIN,
“Also, having a kite festival or a drag show is not breaking the law. Please educate yourself on the law, before you start making wild threats, which we certainly don’t appreciate.”
WHAT YOU SAY MAYBE TRUE, BUT LET’S SEE HOW MUCH FUN YOU HAVE NEXT YEAR WITH A COUPLE OF HUNDRED COPS IN ATTENDANCE…. WAITING TO ARREST ANY GAY OR LESBIAN PERVERT COUPLE WHO FORGETS HIM/HER SELF AND KISSES A MEMBER OF THE SAME SEX…. 😉
Looks as if Anti Gay Patriot is jobless. Perhaps some one can offer him a job because if he has all this time to write all this crap, he must be jobless!
OH DON’T WORRY ABOUT ME BEING JOBLESS….
MY JOB IS ENSURING PERVERTS LIKE YOU DON’T FURTHER CORRUPT INNOCENT MINORS BY LURING THEM WITH PARTIES, ALCOHOL AND A LIFESTYLE THAT PROMISES TEMPORARY SATISFACTION…. BUT IN REALITY IS A FUTURE FULL OF DESEASE…!!!
you definitely are jobless dear. and quite misinformed. Are you not even just a little shy to display your ignorance like this? keep going dear…..each time you write such stuff, all of us are cracking up laughing and baiting you a little more so you can send more of your ignorant ravings. and whats with all the happy faces and stuff…..those things are a sure sign, really….that you are a latent homosexual waiting to burst out of your closet!!
ok people…..
i think we should leave this ANTI-GAY PATRIOT LEAVE his/her comments…as mixitup said looks like he/she ‘s really jobless….and as knowledgeable humans we know that we cant change him/her…
for clearly he/she’s homophobic …and lets not allow him/her to stop commenting..cos not like homophobic people we do respect other people’s RIGHT to criticize …
lets remind him/her the whole world is based on “love” and he/she lacks that very much…
lets try to understand who spared hatred and who spared love…..
and lets not try to fall in to the category who spared hatred..
“all of us are cracking up laughing ”
LET’S SEE HOW MUCH LONGER YOU PERVERTS WILL BE LAUGHING SHALL WE…?
TRUST ME, YOU AND YOUR KIND WILL NEVER BE WELCOME IN THIS COUNTRY OF OURS…. AND THE LAWS AGAINST YOUR FILTHY SEXUAL HABITS WILL NEVER BE REPEALED…. IF ANYTHING, THEY’LL BE MADE EVEN TOUGHER…!!!
ALL IT TAKES IS FOR ONE OF YOU PERVERTS TO BE CAUGHT WITH A MINOR…. A FEW BIG NEWSPAPER HEADLINES AND THAT’LL BE THE END OF ‘EQUAL GROUND’ AND ALL OTHER SO CALLED ‘GAY RIGHTS’ NGO’S…!!!
Everyone at Equal Ground and all its supporters:
As is obvious, we can assume a few things about Anti Gay Patriot. He/She is either:
a)Joking
b)Truly ignorant
c)Gay
Seriously, this kind of impassioned homophobia usually comes only from closeted homosexuals in denial, don’t you think?
My advice to everyone is to please leave it alone. Commentors like Rabbit are only adding to the problem by behaving in a similar fashion, and we are only furthering Anti Gay Patriot’s point that we have something to prove. We don’t. We don’t owe anyone any explanations, especially not those that are blinded by denial and bigotry.
The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light pours in, the smaller it gets. We can sit here all day and try to enlighten this poor, lost soul, but the more we try to educate him/her, the more defensive he/she will get.
There are a lot of defenders for Equal Ground here, and while that is nice to see, I think it is detrimental to our cause to get even remotely affected by this bullshit. We really don’t need to lower ourselves to partake in some petty debate here, we all know what’s right and what’s wrong and it is only demeaning to us to get riled up about such a pittance of an argument. This guy/girl is simply not worth our time and don’t entertain him/her anymore by responding or trying to prove him/her wrong.
We live in a very closeted society, and most people here have been brought up to believe that homosexuality is wrong or unnatural, if at all they even understand that such a thing exists! That is the natural train of thought for many. While this is no excuse for anyone’s hatred, we should be able to recognize a cause that is lost from a cause where we can make a difference. I don’t think we can change Anti Gay Patriot’s mind no matter what we say, and as unfortunate as that is, that may be the reality.
Rock on, Equal Ground.
Whilst I totally disagree with every single sentiment expressed by AMG, I’m afraid this is exactly what certain members of the LGBTQ community were worried about with the EQUAL GROUND activities. That it would only serve to further antagonize rather than promote acceptance….
Peace to all…. I’m outta here.
Anti gay what not oh sorry Parrot ooopps PATRIOT ,
they say that most Homophobes are what they are “Homo Phobes” because they know that inside of all that banter about being Hetro / Straight is coz deep down they are gay as they get but too closeted to say otherwise.
so why dont you stuff your little comments up your little ass and do somthing usefull.
EG you guys have done an amazing work for the past few years and i’m proud that i’m part of this comunity.
@Anti-Gay Patriot:
“BUT LET’S SEE HOW MUCH FUN YOU HAVE NEXT YEAR WITH A COUPLE OF HUNDRED COPS IN ATTENDANCE…. WAITING TO ARREST ANY GAY OR LESBIAN PERVERT COUPLE WHO FORGETS HIM/HER SELF AND KISSES A MEMBER OF THE SAME SEX….”
Dear Anti-gay patriot,
It’s been interesting to read your baseless threats (not to mention how hilarious they sound) 😉 I have been and I am an enthusiastic supporter of Equal Ground and other LGBT organizations and initiatives out there and part of the LGBT community as well 🙂 So..if you still, are so caught on the breeze of having members of the LGBT community arrested, please by all means do come and have me arrested 😉
Unlike yourself, I don’t hide behind a pseudonym, you have my name up there and there are many references to me on the web so go do your homework and you’ll come up with my details and address, and stop making silly threats but rather have me arrested darling 😀
And I’d also like to take this opportunity to invite you over to the Equal Ground office in Colombo (during normal working hours please – check the equal ground website for timings and directions) to have an open discussion with Equal Ground into what really is bothering you and the reason(s) behind the bias which leads you to posting such homophobic statements.
Have a wonderful summer and I look forward to meeting with you shortly, either in person at the Equal Ground office, or in court 🙂
Cheers!
ange
E-lez…not a squeak out of you after this Mardi Gras chappie/girlie pointed out a few home truths. And it also seems that you would prefer to fight for rights seated at the back of your closet. All over the world, gay activists face threats, jail, violence and death….fighting for their rights. This is how people in Canada, Europe, Australia, Latin America etc have gained rights for the gay community. So your comment “I’m afraid this is exactly what certain members of the LGBTQ community were worried about with the EQUAL GROUND activities. That it would only serve to further antagonize rather than promote acceptance….” only reeks of ignorance and cowardice. Perhaps you have not heard of the saying you need to break a few eggs in order to bake a cake!
Sigh. My comment, it seems, went totally unnoticed.
Well, I tried.
@shane1m,
“so why dont you stuff your little comments up your little ass”
UNLIKE YOU AND YOUR PERVERTED CULTURE, I DON’T HAVE THE FILTHY HABIT OF STUFFING THINGS UP MY ASS….!
@ Ange,
I HAVE NO INTENTION OF WAGING A WAR AGAINST SINGLE INDIVIDUALS, WHAT I WILL ACHIEVE HOWEVER IS A FURTHER STRENGTHENING OF THE LAWS AGAINST THIS KIND OF PERVERSIONS AND ALSO OFFICIAL ACTION AGAINST ALL NGO’S PROTECTING GAYS…!!
@Rabbit,
I SEE YOU SEEM TO HAVE COME OUT OF YOUR COWARDLY CLOSET NOW THAT YOU HAVE MORE PEOPLE TO SUPPORT YOU…. TYPICAL GAY BEHAVIOUR….LOL
Dear Rabbit,
if its all the same to you, i wud rather it not my head that’s broken in order to make your omelette…. thank you very much.
I SEE MY COMMENTS ARE NOW BEING DELETED FROM THIS SITE…. LOL
SO MUCH FOR YOUR ‘OPEN AND EQUAL’ FORUM CLAIMS…..LOL
WHAT’S THE MATTER FAGGOTS….. CAN’T TAKE A LITTLE DOSE OF THE REAL WORLD??
ITS COOL…. VERY SOON WE’LL “DELETE” YOUR FILTHY COMMUNITY TOTALLY…..!!!
SEE YOU REAL SOON….. 😉
Not at all Electra 😉 Don’t feed the trolls and I agree with you completely 😀 But at the very least, we’ve given this troll (among others) the chance to engage in a civil conversation in person or otherwise. 🙂 Mudslinging behind pseudonyms isn’t very productive.
EG is all out there with open arms, most folks know the physical location of the office (if not refer to the website for details), so we’re here 🙂 Doubt it’s about the lack of outreach or awareness but rather one of ignorance for all those spewing hate speech online (or even offline).
Anti Gay what not..
why so much of hate towards Gay persons mate .. honestly some one would think you got raped silly when you where a kid that you are so homophobic.
as for calling us FAGGOTS it would take one to know one id think dont you??
your obviously not a person with a right mind to talk in any civil sense to any one.. so why dont you go back to the closet that you were in and stay there.
Oh my goodness!!!!!
reading through this section, I was taken back by all this hate and vile conversations! the strangest thing that occurred to me while reading all of this was that, this amount of hate i have only experienced right here on this strip of conversations. i have experienced discriminations and been stigmatized due to my sexuality, but never ever experienced this amount of hate!!!
people!!!! think, what is happening here! its quite brave of certain parties to hide behind here and criticize and ridicule communities and organizations, wish they would actually get out there and do something about actual issues like the cost of living in this country, the amount of raping and violence that is going on behind closed doors, kidnappings and murders, corruption that is ruining this nation …….. why hit on us queer folk who are just minding our own business and helping our community to come to terms with their sexuality and live a life with respect.
but i guess reaching out to Mr./Ms. AGP, might be out of the question as he/she has got a major chip on his/her shoulder (More like a log)! well i hope one day you will come to terms with your own sexuality and learn to love and respect yourself! then only you could learn to live with queer folk like us……….?????? (Nah……that maybe wishful thinking!!!! maybe when hell freezes over)
Hey Charles – Is this for real? I read some of the comments, it’s horrifying! Keep the spirits up, though. This blog and your work are a testament to freedom and peace.
I’m internship at http://www.poz.com now, and they’re asked me to blog for them. Very exciting!!! I’ll let your know what I start posting.
XXX 🙂 David Capogna
I’m compelled to write once more! I have been receiving a load of emails from an individual and his accomplice who EG has ‘outed’ as the hate mongering Anti Gay Patriot. I feel the persons who are at the bottom of this crime – and yes I call hate comments such as the ones made on this blog by Anti Gay Patriot, a crime against the gay community – are now trying to deflect attention from the real issue by once again attacking this organization who’s only action was to protect themselves and their community against a vicious, homophobic attack. Why shouldn’t an organization that is threatened as Equal Ground has been, protect itself? Why shouldn’t it have the means to put a stop to these attacks?
What I also find sad, yet amusing is that people who are passing these emails around are also conveniently turning a blind eye to the main ingredient here: Anti Gay Patriot’s Homophobic and vitriolic attack on the LGBT community and Equal Ground.
Amazingly enough, while trying to deny the allegations leveled upon him, the accused inadvertently confirms his guilt. He writes that he will get to the bottom of who made these blog comments, even though he also mentions that it is impossible for EG to determine this because of some nonsense about IP addresses. Next thing I know, there’s another email floating around from a person who says he is the one who posted comments under Anti Gay Patriot!! And it happens to be a friend of the accused! Smells awfully fishy to me! And the friend (Anti Gay Patriot, if he is to be believed!) says, he has only the deepest respect for the Gay community and he is sorry if anyone took his comments personally!! Is this person off his rocker or what? He threatens, insults, and berates the community as Fagots, perverts and what not, threatens the community with police action and various other things and he then says we shouldn’t take it personally??!! I’m sorry, I belong to the gay community, and i do take being called a pervert and a disease quite personally.
At the end of the day folks, lets not give people like these chaps the time of day by forwarding their sympathy seeking emails. They did wrong, in my book. they should take the flack like men instead of whining to everyone who cares to listen how victimized they feel!
At the end of the day, we must look at the big picure
I sit here in stunned disbelief, reading what I can only conclude as verbal diearia of an individual who is male adjusted in his or her little closed-minded world. I am of course referring to AGP; it is obvious this individual has not explored this great planet of ours, experiencing the many vast lifestyles out there, just as there are people to live them.
As individuals we do not always except or even respect other individuals opinions or beliefs and let’s face it the news reports these facts everyday. Whether it is for religious beliefs, political views and sexual practises, just read a newspaper or watch the news. But as civilized people we move on and live our lives to the best of our abilities what is that saying “live and let live” I consider myself lucky as I live in a country that has adopted and adapted to these social changes that we live in. I live in a country that has a widely divers social, economical, religious and cultural mix and we do this living side-by-side enjoying these difference. What we as a community do not except are crimes against individuals, property and state. Yes we have the laws of the country to ensure these freedoms that we enjoy today yes it took year of work from both the Straight and GLBT communities working with Government to entrench these rights into our charter of Human Rights, My country is prosperous and much better off, as we all work and live to enjoy our chosen lifestyles.
As a gay male and lovingly partnered for the past eleven years, we both work pay taxes own our home, travel the world volunteer in the community we live in, and AGP are your ready for this, raised four children together who are well adjusted individuals, even though it is none of your business, our children are straight and each have partners of the opposite sex. So AGP two Homosexual males raised Hetrosexual sons and daughtes fo figure. Yes we are lucky that we live in such a county.
AGP check your facts, the GLBT community are not sexual predators, whose agenda is to “convert minors”. The majority of the sexual predators “pedophiles” are Heterosexual straight individuals. It is individuales such as you AGP that slows the progress of a community, country and nation.
The mudslingers are now whining I hear!! Passing emails around to all who care to read how they have been victimised!!! Pathetic that most people view the comments of Anti Gay Patriot as those of a caring community member. In most countries his comments are viewed as a hate crime! Bat on whiners! Isn’t it great to be back in Colombo – the city of petty, vengeful, ignorant hypocrites like the ones that have been defending this Anti Gay chap!
@Anti Gay Patriot on July 25, 2008 11:48 am:
Your comments aren’t being deleted from the blog (this is a blog, not a site 😉 ), however, considering that this is a blog, all our comments are processed through a moderation queue which gets published after EG review. Anyone who has been blogging or administered a blog in any form will understand the necessity of enabling moderation queues such as the need to weed out spammers in some instances, the same applies here on this blog.
And by waging a war against a LGBT organization, you’re pretty much waging a war on the LGBT community out there of which is built up by single individuals such as myself and others for example. Hope that clarifies much of your doubts 🙂
[…] the whole thing here. EG is Sri Lanka’s premier LGBT issue organization, and has done a lot of good work, even […]
I am not gay, but I am a supporter of LGBT rights.
Just wanted to applaud EG and the community for their very professional and admirably classy responses to AGP. I think he’s ultimately ridiculed himself by writing out obscenities in his vile manner, whilst the target of his shameless attacks has remained poised and unshaken by his baseless threats. Well done!
Anti Gay Puk-mahaththaya, please do not assume that every straight person out there agrees with your ridiculous attitude and viewpoints. You are acting like a immature bully with no basis to the bullshit coming out of your head, and you are putting the rest of us straight folk to shame. Go back to your religion and learn the art of tolerance, acceptance and goodwill. You will only lose the respect of other REAL patriots out there if you continue this nonsense.
Are you going to reclaim vernacular terms such as Ponnaya?
[…] police man running behind a vehicle, I suggest you read him. I was over at Equal Grounds and it was pathetic how some people see and react to LGBT people. They miss the most fundamental of all, to start with they are people. I know a quite lot of LGBT […]
I fully agree with the strong condemnation of that absurd, nonsensical statement/manifdsto published by a homophobic organization. Like it or not, the present Word scene id overwhelmingly un favour of normalization of homosexuality and acknowledgement of the dignity who feel sexually attracted by people of their own sex. Let alone the future..! Homophobia is doomed to failure and oblivion!! Happy bright future to the lovely Sri Lankan people, gays & non gays alike!!