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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha and welcome to Stephfan

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Speaker 1: Never Told You production by Her Radio.

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Speaker 2: And welcome to our last Feminist around the World for

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. If you're listening to this within this

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Speaker 2: year or if not, you know, just so you know,

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Speaker 2: this is the last one in twenty twenty four. And

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Speaker 2: today we are featuring queer and human rights activists and

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Speaker 2: environmental activist Rosanna Flammer Caldera. SO Flammer Caldera is the

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Speaker 2: founder and executive director of Equal Ground, which is the

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Speaker 2: oldest organization in Sri Lanka to advocate for the human

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Speaker 2: rights and protections of the Lgbtqia community. Of course, much

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Speaker 2: like our other activists we feature, she has had many

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Speaker 2: different titles and positions in her life. She has been

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Speaker 2: at the forefront fighting for our people and her community

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Speaker 2: as well. So when we talk about one specific thing

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Speaker 2: that she has done, please note again, like many of

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Speaker 2: our other activists, there are so many other things that

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Speaker 2: she has done or she is doing, including being a

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Speaker 2: political figure somewhat as well. So put that little asterisk there.

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Speaker 2: I think we'll just put that asterisk forever on all

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Speaker 2: of our activists. So Flemer Caldera was born in Sri

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Speaker 2: Lanka and grew up in Colombo. At eighteen, she left

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Speaker 2: Sri Lanka and made her way to San Francisco, which,

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Speaker 2: by the way, I listened to a podcast that featured her,

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Speaker 2: and they called San Francisco the gay capital of the US.

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Speaker 2: And I was like, Oh, I guess once upon a

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Speaker 2: time it really was, but that's changed since then. I

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Speaker 2: would assume we should go back and.

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Speaker 1: Look at that.

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Speaker 2: Do we have what we would say at gay capital.

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Speaker 1: I think it's more widespread than one city now, but

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Speaker 1: it used to be San Francisco.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, But I'm like, oh, that's such an old

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Speaker 2: thought process, because anyway, going back, it is there. She says,

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Speaker 2: she participated in her first Pride parade. And here's a

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Speaker 2: bit from a twenty sixteen article about her time, then

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Speaker 2: featured on Altovy World quote Rosanna Flammer. Caldera left her

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Speaker 2: native Sri Lanka at age eighteen. She said, I was

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Speaker 2: having a hard time coming to terms with my sexuality

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Speaker 2: and Sri Lanka was just not a place where women

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Speaker 2: could get ahead. She spent her young adulthood in San Francisco,

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Speaker 2: where she participated in activism through direct action tactics like demonstrations, marches,

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Speaker 2: and vigils. In nineteen seventy eight, Harvey Milk led the

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Speaker 2: first Pride Parade. Rosanna Flahmer Caldera, a Sri Lankan then

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Speaker 2: in her early twenties, ever participated in and she does

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Speaker 2: talk a lot about her experience for that event, and

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Speaker 2: even when Milk was assassinated. She talks about that event

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Speaker 2: and how it really impacted her and how she was

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Speaker 2: a part of that as well. So I thought that

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Speaker 2: was pretty significant to note. This is her first experience

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Speaker 2: which is I caught, and she has been working to

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Speaker 2: bring similar celebrations and activism for the Lgbtqia community to

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Speaker 2: her own home in Colombo. But her upbringing and family

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Speaker 2: have always supported equal rights and activism, and she talks

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Speaker 2: about how liberal they were and very accepting they were

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Speaker 2: in general. But that didn't mean she felt like she

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Speaker 2: could be completely open and honest about herself. As she

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Speaker 2: told interviewers, it took some time for her to accept herself,

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Speaker 2: but was finally able to open up and be her

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Speaker 2: true self when coming to San Francisco, like she talked

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Speaker 2: about how that really changed her perspective and then she

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Speaker 2: told the story about I believe a cousin of hers

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Speaker 2: took her to a lesbian club and things started clicking.

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Speaker 2: I love those moments. I feel like she really had,

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Speaker 2: like the iconic coming out and the experience in San Francisco.

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Speaker 2: I see why they call it the capitol here. Becoming

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Speaker 2: her true self also propelled her activism. She talks with

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Speaker 2: women Talks, a media organization at of Sri Lanka about

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Speaker 2: her starting Equal Ground, which is her organization and the

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Speaker 2: activism in Sri Lanka. She says, I know what it

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Speaker 2: felt like being a lesbian in a country where it

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Speaker 2: was completely taboo. When I was growing up there there

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Speaker 2: was no equal Ground to advise me or hold my hand.

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Speaker 2: But I had the privilege of living in San Francisco

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Speaker 2: for about fifteen years. There, I was able to come

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Speaker 2: out and be myself and then come out to my parents,

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Speaker 2: who have been an incredible support throughout my entire life's journey.

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Speaker 2: And though her initial activism was centered around environmental issues,

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Speaker 2: apparently I think her family's very involved in activism for

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Speaker 2: that as well, that soon changed when she came back

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Speaker 2: to Sri Lanka. Here's some more from that same article.

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Speaker 2: We started the women's support group in nineteen ninety nine.

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Speaker 2: I subsequently went to Oakland, California for a conference for

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Speaker 2: the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transit Intersex Associations or ILGA.

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Speaker 2: There I had the opportunity to be involved in the

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Speaker 2: Asian region of ILGA. I was elected the female representative

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Speaker 2: to the board of ILGA. In two thousand and three,

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Speaker 2: I was asked to nominate myself for the female co

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Speaker 2: Secretary general's position. Then I became the Co Secretary General

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Speaker 2: of ILGA and that lasted for two terms from two

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Speaker 2: thousand and three to two thousand and eight. That actually

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Speaker 2: really helped to inform and also define my activism. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and with all of those she went through these ups

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Speaker 2: and downs with different organizations. She really talks about how

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Speaker 2: it wasn't really all inclusive. We've heard this so many

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Speaker 2: times when it comes to organizations that are too niche.

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Speaker 2: So she would be a part of one and it's

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Speaker 2: just focusing on women. Did not want to talk about

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Speaker 2: the queer community, or they did not want to talk

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Speaker 2: about racism and all that, so so many things, but

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Speaker 2: she talked about those are kinds of ups and downs

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Speaker 2: that she experienced. So Flammer Caldera went on to form

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Speaker 2: Equal Ground, and here's what she had to say about

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Speaker 2: this organization. There was really no advacy being done around

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Speaker 2: LGBTQ rights in a way that included the full spectrum

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Speaker 2: of the queer community in Sri Lanka. So I decided

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Speaker 2: to form Equal Ground along with some friends and particularly

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Speaker 2: with some women who were with me at the wsg

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Speaker 2: SO Women's Associations. We never looked back after that. We

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Speaker 2: started Equal Ground in June two thousand and four. In

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Speaker 2: December we had that awful tsunami. We spent the whole

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Speaker 2: of two thousand and five collecting funds from LGBTIQ persons

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Speaker 2: all over the world through ILGA and a few other

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Speaker 2: organizations to help out with the tsunami relief efforts. And yeah,

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Speaker 2: she did talk in depth about that impact. How so

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Speaker 2: many people we know died. They've talked about it, and

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Speaker 2: they're still damages that have not been addressed. Since then,

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Speaker 2: she's worked really hard in trying to help her community

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Speaker 2: as a whole once again. And here's some information about

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Speaker 2: the organization itself from their own website, Equal dashground dot

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Speaker 2: org says Equal Ground is a nonprofit organization seeking economic,

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Speaker 2: social cultural, civil and political rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,

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Speaker 2: intersex and questioning slash queer or LGBTIQ community of Sri Lanka.

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Speaker 2: We are committed to creating a safe space for all

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Speaker 2: LGBTIQ individuals and to provide opportunities for self help including

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Speaker 2: mental well being, economic, social and political empowerment, access to health, education, housing,

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Speaker 2: and legal protection for the LGBTIQ community. Equal Ground is

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Speaker 2: one of the truly diverse organizations in Sri Lanka, which

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Speaker 2: includes the wider identities of the LGBTIQ community in Sri

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Speaker 2: Lanka as well as our heterosexual allies and friends. So

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Speaker 2: they have so much on their website. Do you get

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Speaker 2: a chance go look it up? Because they talk about

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Speaker 2: all the works that they've done, and there's so much.

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Speaker 2: We didn't want to bypass all the in depth details

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Speaker 2: they had, so you should definitely go check out their site.

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Speaker 2: On their site, they do give some insight about the

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Speaker 2: environment they are working in and the types of things

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Speaker 2: that they're having to deal with. So they say Sri

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Speaker 2: Lanka's society is structured on strict gender roles and responsibilities,

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Speaker 2: where anything different to heteronormativity and binary gender standards is

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Speaker 2: considered abnormal, deviant, and deserving of punishment slash discrimination. As

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Speaker 2: a result of our colonial past, same sex sexual relationships

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Speaker 2: between consenting adults is deemed a criminal act, punishable with

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Speaker 2: up to ten years in prison. As a result, social

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Speaker 2: stigmas are attached to homosexuality and transgenderism. This stigma is

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Speaker 2: heavily institutionalized, resulting in the discrimination and marginalization of members

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Speaker 2: of the LGBTIQ community and those perceived as members of

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Speaker 2: the LGBTIQ community. Due to the lack of understanding of

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Speaker 2: gender identity and sexual orientation and misinterpreted religious cultural doctrine,

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Speaker 2: LGBTIQ persons are often forced into heterosexual marriages, subject to

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Speaker 2: curative rape or face violence within the confines of their

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Speaker 2: homes and in public. Individuals who are thus mistreated are

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Speaker 2: denied access to justice and medical attention because they fear

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Speaker 2: the repercressions of their different sexual orientation gender identity becoming

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Speaker 2: public knowledge, and also because the instances of further abuse

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Speaker 2: of the hands of the authorities is a probable threat.

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Speaker 2: So definitely a lot to take in in that conversation.

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Speaker 2: In the persecution of the queer community, we've seen it,

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Speaker 2: we know that it exists, and we also know there

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Speaker 2: are people who are fighting just like Flimmer Caldeta. But

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Speaker 2: with this from their own site, they include the work

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Speaker 2: they've been doing, which includes educating the community about the

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Speaker 2: LGBTQI community, offering legal counsel, assisting in health and mental

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Speaker 2: health needs, working to change policies and laws that are

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Speaker 2: very harmful to the queer community, and so much more,

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Speaker 2: including the fact they're also working in the tech space

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Speaker 2: to make it more accessible as well as using it

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Speaker 2: for advocacy and teaching others. So really really cool stuff

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Speaker 2: that they're doing. So Flemmer, called Detta, has been on

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Speaker 2: the frontline pushing back against the laws and policies that

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Speaker 2: discriminate and harm the lgbt IQ community. In fact, in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, she presented a case to the UN

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Speaker 2: stating that Sri Lanka's ban on same sex consensual relationships

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Speaker 2: were a violation of human rights. And here's a bit

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Speaker 2: from her feature in Time magazine. Flammer Calderta has been

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Speaker 2: more than two decades advocating for the LGBTQ rights in

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Speaker 2: Sri Lanka, and her relentious advocacy led to a major

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Speaker 2: victory for queer women globally. In a landmark decision in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty two, the U incided with Flammer Claudeta in

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Speaker 2: her case against Sri Lanka's ban on same sex intimacy

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Speaker 2: between women, declaring it a human rights violation. The case

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Speaker 2: brought LGBTQ rights to the four in Sri Lankan politics,

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Speaker 2: and soon after the decision, a lawmaker introduced a bill

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Speaker 2: to decriminalize homosexuality in that country. So this is from

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Speaker 2: a twenty twenty four Times article. The bill at this

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Speaker 2: point it could pass in the Sri Lankan Parliament, which

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Speaker 2: Equal Ground is continuing to work to make sure it

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Speaker 2: does though they're fighting for that. That's being heard, and apparently

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Speaker 2: it's pretty favorable. We'll see. And like so many of

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Speaker 2: our amazing activists we have featured of, FLEAMR Caldera has

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Speaker 2: been recognized for her work, including being named Time magazines

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Speaker 2: Most Influential People of twenty twenty four, which is why yes,

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Speaker 2: we found her. She also received a twenty twenty two

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Speaker 2: APCOM Community Hero Award, and so much more. And I'm

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Speaker 2: sure we're going to hear so much more about what

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Speaker 2: she's doing, especially with the fact that they're changing so

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Speaker 2: much in Sri Lanka and really hope that they're able

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Speaker 2: to get this done because that would be an amazing

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Speaker 2: victory for the world and for themselves.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yes, we'll definitely be checking in on that and

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Speaker 1: really hoping that it goes through and meantime, listeners. As always,

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Speaker 1: you can contact us if you have any suggestions, updates, resources.

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Speaker 1: You can emails at Stephanie and momstephantiheartmedia dot com. You

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Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter and Blue Sky at Mom

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Speaker 1: Stuff Podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I

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Speaker 1: Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We have a

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Speaker 1: tea public store, and we have a book you can

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Speaker 1: get wherever you get your books. Thanks so always here

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Speaker 1: a super producer, Tina are executive producer My and your

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Speaker 1: contrutor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening

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Speaker 1: Stuff Never Told You his production by Heart Radio. For

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