Sri Lankan Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa stated that lesbianism “equals sadism” and advocated the rape of lesbians by convicted sexual offenders to “cure” them, reports Economy Next.
Referring to a landmark May 2000 ruling, when Mr Rajapaksa was head of the Press Council of Sri Lanka, the current justice minister stated that homophobic hate mail that had been published in The Island had been done so in “good faith”.
"Lesbianism is at least an act of gross indecency and unnatural,” he stated. “If people of this country have a right to publish that a conference of lesbians would be held in Colombo, the people have a right to express their opinion either for or against.”
Activist Sherman de Rose, the Executive Director of Companions on a Journey, filed a complaint with the press council against a particular article that advocating raping lesbians.
Mr Rajapaksa though dismissed the complaint and chose to fine Mr de Rose instead.
"The complainant, in any event, is not a female, who can participate in lesbian activities," ruled Mr Rajapaksa said. "He cannot be subject to any such rape as referred to in the (Island) article and therefore, he cannot be a victim of such violence."
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