Wonderful Sri Lanka actually fearful for LGBT travelers?

Sri Lanka is an amazing island full of beautiful sights and has an unique way of engaging all your senses, making it a place that is without a doubt worth a visit. 

Though Sri Lanka has a reputation as a great destination for many sorts of travelers, it is not necessarily known for flapping rainbow flags in the island's tourism.If you are a gay traveler or a traveling couple, dreaming of visiting Sri Lanka keep reading to find out 'is wonderful Sri Lanka actually fearful for LGBT travelers or not?'

In order to reveal the true story, I interviewed the expertise Nomadic boys to share their travel experience in Sri Lanka with us..
Before jumping into the interview, go watch this amazing Travel video diary of Nomadic boys in Sri Lanka

Nomadic Boys gay Sri Lanka

Photo credit-Nomadic Boys

Hello hello. We are a gay couple, Stefan and Sebastien. We quit our jobs and London life in 2014 to eat our way through Asia and have since made travelling a long-term lifestyle.

Stefan, 33 is a former lawyer, of Greek Cypriot origin, born and raised in London. Sebastien, 34, is an IT geek, originally from France but moved to London to work in the finance industry. London is where we met.

For how long you’ve been traveling the world?

We set off in June 2014 and have been travelling in Asia ever since.

When did you travel Sri Lanka? How is Sri Lanka?

We visited Sri Lanka in late 2014 as part of our travels around South Asia. It’s an incredible country with the best train journeys of our travels and a foodie’s paradise

How was your travel experience in Sri Lanka as Gay couple?

Sadly, homosexuality is illegal in Sri Lanka. This means on paper you can go to jail for being gay, but in practice, it’s used as a tool for bribes by corrupt policemen.

For tourists, this is never a problem. We are discreet generally, particularly in countries like Sri Lanka, so no public signs of affection for example. At worst, most people thought we were brothers and we just let them go on with this line of thinking.

Photo credit-Nomadic Boys

Did you face any prejudice in Sri Lanka? If so, what were they?

We personally didn’t encounter any prejudice because as foreigners, you’ll always be treated differently. We also found this to be the case in the Maldives, which also bans homosexuality.

However, for gay locals, they face immense pressure from their family and society to lead a “normal” life and marry a fake wife, with quite sad repercussions if they don’t. Our local friend Kaluu gave us an extremely interesting viewpoint of what it’s like growing up and gay life in Sri Lanka. The interview had to be anonymous to avoid Kaluu’s family and workplace finding out his identity.

 What was the hardest part about traveling Sri Lanka and the easiest as a gay couple?

Overall, traveling in Sri Lanka is a joy and made easy by the welcoming people. As foreigners, we felt welcomed by everyone. We love our food a lot and this, therefore, made Sri Lanka a joy to travel in. We think Sri Lanka has some of the best food in Asia – they make a curry out of anything, pineapple, aubergine, garlic, jack fruit etc but without heavy use of ghee like in Indian curries.

Sri Lankans are passionate about their food, excited to explain it to these 2 curious and hungry foreigners, so this was certainly the easiest part of travelling in Sri Lanka for us.

Photo credit-Nomadic Boys

Did you guys seek gay-friendly things such as tours, bars, accommodation in Sri Lanka or just blended with the other travelers?

Sadly there is not much gay life in Sri Lanka at all. There are no bars or gay establishments as it’s illegal and society strongly frowns on it. Negombo is famous for having money boys/rent boys roam the beach looking for wealthy foreigners and a few hotels claim to be gay-friendly.

We did not seek them out as we were slightly tentative about doing so and tread carefully to avoid confrontation.

Having said that, luxury brands and high-end hotels and tour companies are best placed to lead the way – they are more used to dealing with gay tourists. This interaction between gay travellers and hotel staff slowly filters back into society to show we are not dodgy and quite normal people.

How is the attitude of the folks towards traveling gay couples?

We were not fully open about being a gay couple in Sri Lanka and only really “came out” if we were sure people were open minded enough to accept it. Otherwise, we let them continue thinking we were “friends” or “brothers”.

Photo credit-Nomadic Boys

Do you recommend Sri Lanka to other gay couples out there?

As with every country in Asia which still has to accept and celebrate its LGBT community, the worst thing to do is to have the mentality of “why should I spend my pink pounds in a country that wants to throw me in jail”.

This is an unproductive way of thinking and doesn’t help anyone. We strongly believe that we owe the local LGBT communities a responsibility to get out there and support them instead of a blanket ban on visiting their country.

The money you spend on gay-friendly / owned businesses helps them flourish in a society, which is likely to be fighting to close them down or make their life difficult.

And finally, as a gay couple, we strongly believe that making friends and interacting with the local LGBT community is far more effective than boycotting their country altogether.

Photo credit-Nomadic Boys

On a scale of one to ten, how you rate Sri Lanka as a gay-friendly destination?

Sadly as with the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, India etc, Sri Lanka loses points for criminalizing homosexuality. Compared to Spain, Argentina or Thailand, it’s obviously going to be a 0. Sri Lanka does not have any gay prides, there are no gay bars, parties, any gay scene what so ever and sadly lacks any support to its gay community by its government, which instead actively criminalises us. So on paper, it’s not a gay-friendly destination at all.

But that’s not really the best way to look at the country or the right question to ask. The Sri Lankans we met were all extremely friendly, warm and extremely welcoming to us. Those that were clearly close minded would assume we’re brothers and we just wouldn’t contradict them. Those who were more worldly and educated were more open to collaborating with us and keen to attract gay tourists to the country.

What advice do you have for other LGBT travelers who are willing to travel Sri Lanka?

Get on out there. Your very presence is most likely to inspire the local LGBT community, encourage them to mobilise and push for equality (over time of course).

Plus they made some really really good food!

Photo credit-Nomadic Boys

 If you are travelling Sri Lanka make sure you follow Stefan and Sebastien's advice.Also don't forget to check thier amazing travel stories.So,will you be visiting Sri Lanka or not?

Hope this post will give you a good idea of gay tourism in Sri Lanka.If you like to be more safe join with www.gaytoursrilanka.com.Also go here to find gay friendly hotels in Sri Lanka and more tours in Sri Lanka.

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