Bhoomi Harendran

The first Sri Lankan transgender who came out from the “closet”

“Sympathy is not what we want” she quoted as she wanted to make an identity of herself.

Bhoomi was first known as Kumudu a boy who went to a popular all-boys school in Colombo.
But everyone who went to school with Kumudu knew that he was not an ordinary boy but a
different one. He was apart in the Sinhala drama club who mostly played female characters, He
was made fun/bullied for who he is, no one wanted to be friends with Kumudu because he was
that boy who is like a girl. He often fought back for bullying, and left unaffected for endless name
calling, as time flew he grew stronger and silent.

Kumudu grew up watching Maduri Dixit, he wanted to dance like her, talk like her, she literally
wanted to be like her, Maduri was his idol. Bhoomi was a girl trapped inside Kumudu’s body.
After leaving school writing A/L’s he joined a workshop on gender identity and sexuality, it was
only then he understood her inner struggle. his family disowned him, he was kicked out from
home even though he was the only child, his mother hoped he died and he had no one to go to.

He faced discrimination, verbal abuse every day. People walked away from him than walking
with him, his hands were left lose, nothing to hold on to. For the society he is a dirty, filthy, nasty
thing but he is a woman.

He has come a long way from where he was. Kumudu Dharshana Kumara became Bhoomi
Harendran. She started growing her hair, wearing women’s cloths, loving makeup every
possible thing where she could be a woman.

Nobody was happy to give her a job or a house to live in because of her own identity. Today she
is connected with lots of human rights organizations and supporting victims on gender based
violence.

Today Bhoomi Harendran is a leading advocate and an activist of gender and human rights.
Bhoomi raises the concern of Sri Lankan media complying to gender stereotypes and using
women as a mere tool for marketing. But she believes that the LGBT community faces even
more discrimination specially in the media’s eye. She quotes “Sri Lankan media seem to hide
the truth behind the LGBT community because they still consider it as a taboo. As a result,
LGBT issues are often portrayed in an unethical manner without being factual and unbiased”
Bhoomi Harendran

She is the current head in the NTN Sri Lanka (National Transgender Network Sri Lanka). NTN
Sri Lanka is the first network established with and through the Government that is in
collaboration with the health ministry and provided for by Global Fund.

It’s a historical movement- a transgender network mobilizing for the first time as an island-wide
initiative. She is in the midst of identifying trans individuals in each district and providing a
means for them to create a community and join the network.

The main purpose of the establishing this network, in addition to our health and wellness goals,
was to improve and raise the quality of life of TG individuals in Sri Lanka. Members of the
transgender community often, unfairly come under the fire for “bad behavior”. They are looked
down on by society, placing blame on them for becoming sex workers and other occupations
that are presumed less than worthy.

In recent years, the world has seen enormous human rights giants with respect to sexual
orientation and gender identity and expression. However, there have also been substantial
setbacks- ranging from discriminatory legislation, to impunity for brutal violence against LGBTI
(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and intersex) community. Same sex marriage is now
legal in 17 countries and parts of two others; a handful of countries legally recognize gender
based on self- identification alone.

Why is it still a crime to be a part of the LGBTI community in Sri Lanka? One may question. In
this small island LGBTI people can be a struggle. Like many other South Asian societies, Sri
Lanka is a very religious and socially conservative. While there are organizations working
further gay rights here, such as Equal Ground, NTN and Heart to Heart, those in the community
still regularly experience discrimination, ostracism and even violence.

“it’s really bad when it comes to work, with family, among friends, everywhere. It’s really difficult”
says one woman who is afraid to come out to the public with her first name even.

“More than asking for rights for the LGBTI community, we need social acceptance” - Roshan

Section 365A(as amended in 1995) of the Penal Code States:

“ Any person who, in public or private, commits, or is a party to the commission of, or
procures or attempts to procure the commission by any person of, any act of gross
indecency with another person, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be punished with
imprisonment of either the description for a term which may extended to two years or
with fine or with both and where the offence is committed by a person over eighteen
Bhoomi Harendran

years of age in respect of any person under sixteen years of age shall be punished with
rigorous imprisonment for a term not less than ten years and not exceeding twenty years
and with fine and shall also be ordered to pay compensation of and amount determined
by court to the person in respect of whom the offence was committed for the injuries
caused to such person”

To say that the above is vague would be an understatement. Homosexual conduct has been
grouped into an unhelpfully broad category of “gross indecency” leaving it open to interpretation
to anyone with an agenda. Homosexuality is prohibited in Sri Lanka, there was an amendment
to the Penal Code made in 1995 making it an offence. Any homosexual act between men- it
was expanded to include women, too – is an offence.

Sri Lanka’s 1883 Penal Code. A legacy of its British colonial rulers, makes intercourse between
men punishable by 12 years in jail, although the law is rarely enforced. Sri Lanka’s cabinet has
rejected a proposal to end discrimination based on sexual orientation because it could legitimize
homosexuality which is illegal on the island,

“There was a provision referring to the sexual orientation of individuals and we clearly said it
was not acceptable, the government is against homosexuality, but we will not prosecute anyone
for practicing it, and the fact the island’s conservative Buddhist clergy was also opposed to the
provision” – Rajitha Senaratne, government Spokesman.

Homosexuality, among other things, comes under ‘unnatural offences’ or acts of sexual nature
that go against nature, as per section 365 of Penal Code.

Bhoomi Harendran is a sexual and reproductive health and rights advocate and activist trying to
change societal attitudes about SRHR issues. But more than anything she is being true to
herself and doesn’t have to feel like she is living a lie. Her passion, though, is to be a model and
an actress one day. She will have a sex reassignment surgery- she wants to fall in love, get
married and be a mother and she wants to be happy.

She won the best actor award at SAARC film awards 2017. She said “I did act in this film as a
man and today I’m on stage to take this award as a woman. This is me. I’m a woman like any
other woman in this world. I will continue this struggle until society accepts my inner woman”
Bhoomi Harendran