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Paper short abstract

This paper explores Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya protests of 2022 from the perspective of the queer community. It highlights how these protests served as a contested site of dissent, highlighting opportunities for transformational change as well as persistent constraints.

Paper long abstract

The 2022 Aragalaya protests marked a watershed in Sri Lanka’s political trajectory, forcing the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and paving the way for the National People’s Power (NPP) to win the 2024 elections. This paper examines the dynamics and consequences of this movement, arguing that while the protests were youth-driven, they were not youth-led. Structural marginalisation—manifested in high youth unemployment, limited political representation, and systemic corruption—shaped the language and strategies of protest, including calls for “system change” and participatory democracy.

While most analysis of the Aragalaya has focused on how the movement contributed to processes of democratic change, we explore how the movement’s wider calls for system change intersected with marginalised groups’ calls for intersectional justice. Queer groups leveraged the moment to claim visibility—through initiatives such as the first public Pride march —yet faced persistent constraints. Patriarchal norms, heteronormative protest sites, and a lack of resonance with communities North and East limited the inclusivity of the movement. We explore how queer activists navigated layered challenges of exclusion and repression. While some inclusive spaces like the Equality Shelter emerged, activists faced internal divisions between NGO-linked and grassroots actors, and across ethnic and class lines, raising questions about whose queer aspirations were prioritised. These fractures were compounded by state surveillance, intimidation, and arrests. This paper therefore helps us to understand both the transformative potential and the structural limits of such movements, while highlighting how the Aragalaya protests served as a contested site of dissent.