Being gay is basically illegal in Sri Lanka. There is no law protecting them against discrimination or harassment. I'm not sure if the authorities actually take any actions to prosecute them though. It seems Sri lankans and/or the government don't want to acknowledge that LGBT community exists. It appears to me that many people are very uninformed/unaware about it, and they are somewhat in denial that this is a human right issue in their own country. Majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhist, and as far as I know Buddhism doesn't make no claim on any type of sexual behaviors...
I recently went to LGBT event at British council. They had three day long film festival. The event wasn't that well attended unfortunately, but even then I could tell LGBT has a strong community based on the way they seem to know each other well.
I ended up talking to a guy who turned out to be an counselor for LGBT population. He was telling me about the subtle discrimination that they experience and also the difficulty with their families. This counselor turned out to be an artist, and he had his work displayed at this event. I purchased one of his paintings from him. The proceed goes toward LGBT community work. I get overwhelmed sometimes when I think about the amount of work still left to do to bring equality for all, and I don't even know what I can contribute...but at least $30 I spent on the paining will be used for good cause.
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