Sherman de Rose

Sherman de Rose is a Sri Lankan LGBT activist. He grew up in Kotahena. As a young person he wanted to join the Catholic church and studied in Ireland, but after realising he was gay he left the church. He then set up Companions on a Journey, Sri Lanka's first gay rights group, in 1994.

Early life

Sherman de Rose grew up in Kotahena, a suburb of Colombo with six siblings. He was connected to the local Catholic St. Lucia’s Cathedral and wanted to become a priest. At the age of 17, he went to the Poornawatte Seminary near Kandy and after a few months had the opportunity to study in Ireland. Between 1989 and 1992 he studied theology and philosophy. When he returned to Sri Lanka, he realised he was gay and left the church, working at a restaurant in Colombo.[1]

Career

Sherman de Rose set up Companions on a Journey in 1995, provoking a controversy since it was Sri Lanka's first gay rights group. He received death threats and was forced to go abroad for a time until things had settled down again.[2][3]

De Rose helped to set up ACCESS (AIDS Coalition for Care, Education and Support Services), becoming its treasurer and convenor in 1997.[4] In 1999, de Rose made a complaint about a letter to a newspaper which advocated violence against lesbians. The Sri Lanka Press Council refused to hear the complaint and fined de Rose 2100 rupees.[5]

See also

References
  1. de Rose, Sherman (8 May 2011). "My Story…". The Sunday Leader. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  2. "Sri Lanka's gays share their journey". BBC News. 20 May 2005. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  3. Samath, Feizal (27 July 2009). "RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Gay Community Takes Heart in Indian Court Ruling | Inter Press Service". IPS News. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  4. Pattuwa, Giruwa (2006). A life in the round: Desamanya Kamalika, the girl from Giruwa Pattuwa. WHT Publications. p. 143. ISBN 9789559114352.
  5. Bauer, J. Edgar; Weinberg, Joe; Sander, Daniel J.; Chatzipapatheodoridis, Constantine; West, Taylor Cade; Kemp, Jonathan; Silva, Antônio M. da; Sanyal, Swikriti; Ncube, Gibson; Karakire, Prince; Ross, Oliver; Purkayastha, Shramana Das; Turner, Elen; Rath, Akshaya K.; Ghosh, Priyam; Gupta, Anuj; Arora, Manvi; Zalipour, Arezou; Chattopadhyay, Shinjini; Dasgupta, Rohit Kumar; Parveen, Rasheda; Begum, Lipi (1 April 2014). "Special Issue on LGBT and Queer Studies". Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities. 6 (1): 158. ISSN 0975-2935.
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