Events

The Women's Support Group has had an eventful and active couple of years. We have conducted awareness workshops, held the Clothesline Project to voice issues of violence against women, and also participated in conferences to strengthen our group and its activities.

Workshops

The WSG has regularly held awareness workshops on sexual health, sexual rights and sexuality. With the help of resource people from our own group and other organisations, we have been to various rural areas to hold these workshops. Our main aim in conducting these workshops is to raise visibility of the WSG as a support group for LBT women. In most instances, we have held these workshops for women community workers who are leaders in their own villages and districts. By addressing these women, we hope to bring attention to the stigma and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in their own surroundings. Issues of sexuality and gender are intrinsically connected, and therefore, in our outreach activities we focus on gender awareness in relation to our society. The atmosphere created by our interactive sessions allowed them to relax and narrate many anecdotal stories to us about people in their communities who have lived lives that were “different.” We and our participants have both learnt from these workshops.

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Sexual Rights Network Meeting 30th September 2007, Anuradhapura

Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) from Anuradhapura, Puttlam and Buttala participated this month at the SRN Meeting that was held in Anuradhapura. This time, we had organised for a representative of Women in Need (WIN), an organisation working with women affected by violence, to make a presentation on the services offered by WIN. During the short discussion that followed, we talked about how silence on women’s sexuality negatively affects dealing with violence, since most women and girls are afraid to report instances of violence. After the SRN meeting, which took place in the afternoon, the WSG also visited another very small CBO that had just started. It was heartening to see these women, young and old, gather together to discuss their issues, and we really enjoyed their beli and hibiscus flower drinks and the sweets!

Sex Workers' Project

In 2002, the Women's Support Group started working with a group of female sex workers from the Colombo area. We identified the sex workers as a sexual minority group that is disadvantaged due to many reasons, least of all their poverty, and as a sexual minority group we felt that our intervention would be helpful. We were helped in this endeavour by a community development organisation that let us use their space for our project.

Language Classes

The initial discussions held with this group of women showed an overwhelming desire on the part of the women to learn skills and languages. Some of them could barely sign their name, and most had not completed their primary or secondary education. From October 2002 onwards, we held English classes for the women with the help of a volunteer from Volunteers International Projects Trust .

In 2003, we expanded these language classes to include the children of sex workers as well. This move was extremely successful with the children being more enthusiastic than the adults! The English classes run by another Australian volunteer was a hit.

Health Clinics

In 2003 July we also organised free general medical clinics for the sex workers as they had told us of the discriminatory treatment they face at the hospitals. In the latter half of 2003 we conducted 3 medical clinics for the women and their families, which we continued during 2004 as well. Doctors from the government sector voluntarily gave of their time to treat them. The WSG also provided these patients with the medicines prescribed to them. The doctors found that respiratory illnesses and malnutrition were common afflictions, as a result of poor diet and unhealthy living environments. The sex workers also complained at these clinics that they had no proper water supplies.

Sports Events

Women’s Support Group’s 3rd Annual All Women’s Cricket Tournament

The WSG held its Annual Six-a-Side All Women's Cricket Encounter for the third consecutive year on the 16th of October 2005. This year the tournament was held at the St Thomas' College small club grounds with more than 10 all women teams from around the island including Anuradapura, Galle, Wattala, Kandy and Colombo.

At this event, the Chief Guests for the awards ceremony were prominent women’s rights activist Sunila Abeysekara and actress Anoma Janadaree, well known for her role in Thani Thatuwen Piyambanna. The Champion’s Trophy went to the Galle Ladies Club team while the Wattala Macy club was the Runners-Up.

Special thanks to the WSG members who supported us with their presence and to Jeiyu-MS Advertising for providing us with the Medals and Awards.

The WSG Women's Celebration Cricket Challenge

Women dominated sporting events are rare in Sri Lanka . This is even more difficult is finding a sports event that is not ‘traditionally' feminine, such as cricket. The first ever Women's Support Group Annual Women's Celebration Cricket Tournament took place at the Shalika Grounds, Colombo 5 in August 2002. This limited overs cricket tournament was also another way of reaching out to other women to create a link between the WSG and other women's organisations. We were happy have the presence of nationally certified women umpires too!

The second cricket tournament was held in October 2003 at the Health grounds, Rajagiriya in 2003. A number of women's cricket teams from around the island participated in these limited overs tournaments, while one team representing a leading telecommunications company walked out as they did not want to attend a LBT organised event. The Kalapaluwawa Sinha Samajaya cricket team became the champions of both these tournaments.

The cricket tournaments are highly enjoyable events for all those who participated as can be seen by the happy and excited faces in these photographs.

Gay Games VII

The 7th Gay Games was held in Chicago from the 15th to the 25th of July 2006. An opportunity for not just for sportsmanship, but an expression of solidarity and fellowship, the Gay Games has empowered tens of thousands of LGBT athletes from around the world. Built upon the principles of participation, inclusion and personal best the Gay Games has celebrated the achievements of sexual minorities for over twenty years.
The WSG is proud to announce that the two members of the WSG (Upeksha Thabrew and Maria Kenny) who were among the team that represented Sri Lanka at the Gay Games has clinched several medals with record-breaking success yet again!
Upeksha who took part in the javelin, 800 meters sprint, discus and long jump events won a gold medal for the javelin and silver medals for discus and long jump, while Maria who took part in the shot putt, discus, javelin and 200 meters events secured a bronze medal for javelin and silver medals for all her other events. Undoubtedly, the Gay Games has continued to make a valuable contribution to the LGBT community worldwide in keeping with its primary vision. Our participants recall their experiences with exuberance.
‘Being part of the event was an experience of a life time’ says Maria, about her first-time participation at the Gay Games. In her view, participation is not only about success or failure at the events. She recalls that men and women took part in the events as united members of one community.
Both Maria and Upeksha consider it an honor to participate in the Gay Games as it is the most important international sports event for the LGBT community.
Upeksha, who also participated in the 2002 Gay Games in Sydney and won the first ever medal in the Gay Games for Sri Lanka, speaks of the event as an opportunity to meet with sports men and women from all over the world. In her experience, all participants are filled with community spirit and the competition is a healthy and self satisfying experience.
One of the most important factors, as Upeksha points out, is that the Gay Games acts as a place for further networking for LGBT groups from around the world. For a small group like the WSG, this is a valuable opportunity because such meetings are few and far between among the LGBT community. Furthermore, the Gay games is also special in that it focuses on sports, which is still a space filled with homophobia in the outside world.
Our sincere thanks and gratitude to Astraea Foundation, U.S.A., who sponsored part of the expenses relating to WSG’s participation at the Chicago Games. Our success is also a reflection of their support.

Fundraisers for the 2006 Gay Games

Since the Astraea funding was not sufficient the WSG needed funds from local sources. Unfortunately, there were no local sources that wanted to fund the WSG. To this end, we organized two fund raising events in Colombo.
On 29th March 2006 we organized a party at Rhythm ‘n Blues. The theme was Dykes ‘n Divas. Around 200 – 250 Gay and Gay friendly people attended to this party.

But since the expenses were so high (air fare, lodging, transportation from and to the stadium to be paid in dollars!!!) we had to organize another party.
On 28th June 2006 the party was held at Taboo. This time, the theme was Pride & Spirit around 200 gay and gay friendly people showed up for this.

In both parties there were many entertainment events including guest performances. Every one had a fabulous time and they all enjoyed the parties. Thank you all for coming and supporting our athletes and your money was not wasted because our members came back with 07 medals.

Medal Celebration

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Conferences

8th International Congress on Aids in Asia Pacific, Colombo

The WSG had the good opportunity of participating in this congress on HIV/AIDS. This was a special occasion  for us as women’s organizations working on LBT issues are generally not actively involved in AIDS related work. At this years ICAAP the WSG participated in the community forum, where we contributed to the community statement, advocating “for the decriminalisation of ‘sexual offences’ between consenting adults” as well as for “education on sexualities and sexual rights at all levels of society”.  We also made a presentation at the Satellite Meeting organized by APRAINBOW and again in the Community Dialog Space. The WSG collaborated with COJ to organize the community party for the Congress, which was a huge success.

International Consultation of Women Human Rights Defenders, Colombo

The WSG was very happy to be involved with the work of this Conference. The conference was held from the 29th of November to the 2nd of December 2005. It was home to an international group of 200 women human rights defenders.

The 10th AWID International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development,  Bangkok

The AWID forum is a great event to meet other women’s and sexual rights activists. The theme of the forum was “How does change happen?” This was a forum that brought together people from all over the world - from places as far apart as the U.S.A., Serbia, India and New Zealand.

ILGA Asia Conference, Cebu

The second International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) Asia Regional Conference took place in Cebu, Philippines on 20 th -23 rd October 2005. ILGA's member organizations in Cebu – CLIC and CEBU PRIDE – were the hosts for this event for Asia. “Coming out coming home” brought together activists and organizations from the entire Asian Region to celebrate the diversity that is Asia.

49 th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations, New York

This conference, better known as the Beijing +10 was held to review the status of the Beijing Action Plan on women's rights. Two representatives from the WSG attended the Beijing +10 in New York , USA , from 03 rd – 13 th March 2005, with the support of the Hivos Foundation.

22 nd ILGA World Conference, Manila

The WSG attended the 22 nd ILGA World Conference – “Surviving Discrimination, Celebrating Ourselves” – from 11-18 November in 2003. The participation of two WSG members at this event was made possible with the support of the Global Fund for Women.

ILGA Asia Regional Conference, Mumbai

The first International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) Asia Regional Conference took place in Mumbai , India on 11 th -13 th October 2002. ILGA's member organizations in Mumbai – HUMSAFAR TRUST and AANCHAL – were the hosts for this breakthrough event for Asia . “ A to Z; the other Asia” brought together activists and organizations from the entire Asian Region to celebrate the diversity that is Asia .

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Fundraising events

Dykes and Divas and Pride and Spirit

These parties were organized as fundraisers for the 2006 Gay Games. For details please check the section on the Gay Games in this site.

Diversity

The WSG together with the COJ was given the honor of organizing the official community party for the 8th ICAAP 2007. For details please see under Conferences – ICAAP

Women on Top

The first ‘ Women on Top' party was held in March 2002 as a fundraising event which also acted as the launching event for The Clothesline Project. This was conceptualised as a women only party, as there are no spaces at which women can enjoy themselves without the presence of men. At this event f unds were also raised for the AIDSline project which is run by the AIDS Coalition. The WSG were happy to donate Rs.20,000/- towards this program.

In 2003 we held the ‘Women on Top' again which was an even bigger success as a fundraiser than the previous year. At this event which was held at a leading hotel in Colombo , we started with a few dance items that had all the women cheering and tapping their toes and clapping their hands. More than three hundred women enjoyed themselves dancing till early morning after the dance items by Kolu, some of our members and other friends.