Bhoomi Harendran is a Sri Lankan human rights activist, media personality, and advocate for the rights and equality of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) community in Sri Lanka. She is the executive director of the National Transgender Network of Sri Lanka and was instrumental in the establishment of the legal process for transgender people to change their gender on official documentation.
Harendran is considered one of Sri Lanka's foremost human rights defenders for the LGBTIQ+ community. She is the executive director of the National Transgender Network of Sri Lanka, a non-governmental organization dedicated to safeguarding human rights, health, and empowerment for transgender people across the island.
One of her most significant contributions is her active advocacy for the Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC). This work led the Ministry of Health and the Registrar General's Department to issue circulars in 2016, which established a legal and administrative process for transgender individuals to officially change their gender and name on official documents, which was a landmark achievement. For over a decade, she has worked as an HIV activist, focusing on prevention, sexual health, and rights within key marginalized populations. Harendran received the 2021 Transgender Hero Award from the APCOM Heroes Awards for her advocacy work.
She has served as a subcommittee member of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and has advocated for police reform, including the issuance of a 2022 Police Department circular providing guidelines on the appropriate treatment, searching, and detention of transgender individuals. She also serves as a Brand Ambassador for Emerge Lanka, an organization dedicated to empowering survivors of abuse.
Harendran is known for her role in the film Frangipani (Sayapethi Kusuma). Harendran was the first trans person to win the SAARC Award for Best Actor (2017), and won the Kusalatha Sammanaya (Merit Award) (2018) at the Sarasavi Film Awards, both for her role in Frangipani.
Harendran was featured in the "Being Human" documentary series launched by Daily Mirror, in partnership with the legal pro-bono organization iProbono.