September 6, 2018 (LBO) – A five judge bench in India’s Supreme Court has struck down a colonial era ban of gay sex. There has been an explosive reaction to this landmark judgement on twitter, with some prominent politicians also chiming in:
So pleased to learn that the SupremeCourt has ruled against criminalising sexual acts in private. This decision vindicates my stand on Section 377& on exactly the same grounds of privacy, dignity &constitutional freedoms. It shames those BJP MPs who vociferously opposed me in LS.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 6, 2018
Congratulations… #India ?? for "coming out" of a Victorian hangover. #lka
— Mangala Samaraweera (@MangalaLK) September 6, 2018
A summary of the legal situation in Sri Lanka is copied below from Wikipedia:
| Same-sex sexual activity legal |  (decriminalization proposed, unenforced) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in employment |  (Since 2017) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services | (Since 2017) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) | (Since 2017) |
| Stepchild adoption by same-sex couples | |
| Joint adoption by same-sex couples | (Married couples only) |
| LGBT people allowed to serve openly in the military | |
| Right to change legal gender | |
| Recognition of third gender | |
| Access to IVF for lesbians | |
| Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples | |
| MSMs allowed to donate blood | |
“The political framework of Sri Lanka has predominantly been inherited from the United Kingdom, but has strong influences of Dutch and Portuguese traditions.
The two main legal arbitrators used against homosexuals are the anti-sodomy laws and gender impersonation laws.[6]
Article 365A prohibits anyone, irrespective of gender, from engaging in “gross indecency”, which is not explicitly defined, although stiffer sanctions apply if one person is under the age of 16 or if any sort of injury was caused as a result.
In 1995, criminal law was amended to expressly prohibit “gross indecency” no matter the gender of the participants.[7]
In January 2017, cabinet members of the Sri Lankan Government rejected the chance to legalize homosexuality.[8]
The European Union has recently proposed to use its elevated trade deal negotiations to ensure that human rights on the island would be protected.[9]
In November 2017, Deputy Solicitor General Nerin Pulle stated that the government would move to decriminalize same-sex sexual activity.”[10]