Gay World With Tim Warrington
Sri Lanka As Asian countries go Sri Lanka is pretty liberal, but societal disapproval and family pressures make life for the LGBT community complicated and challenging. I am tired. Nothing scares away high-altitude snooze time like a 10-hour stopover in Singapore airport with a marathon screening of Air Crash Investigation on the world’s largest flat screen. Just before I left Sydney I called my mother. “Dear, please don’t go to South America, someone might steal your kidneys.” Slight geographical error, but I assure her I’ll be okay. I also point out that Colombo isn’t in South America. It’s the capital city of Sri Lanka, a small nation, roughly the size of Ireland, much closer to home. It shares the Indian Ocean with the Indian subcontinent to the west. I’ve heard it’s like India with training wheels – smaller, less populous (by almost one billion) easier to navigate and generally more user-friendly. Two friends, Andrew and Paul who travelled there recently said, “We were massively impressed by Sri Lanka and experienced no difficulty travelling as a gay couple.” Similarly Peter, an old university friend who makes Quentin Crisp look like the essence of machismo, travelled about safely and unmolested. Still, I’m a little nervous as the plane begins to descend – more of my mother’s cautionary advice ringing in my ears, “Honey, don’t be too gay in Colombia” [Colombo]. And Lonely Planet’s commandment, “It pays to be discreet. Local members of the gay community report harassment and bribery.” It’s not the first time I’ve been to a country where it’s illegal to be... well me – gay, but I still worry. Homosexuality is illegal (along with 120 DNA
Buddhist monks at the ancient city of Sigiriya.
bestiality) under the broader provision of ‘gross indecency’ under article 365A of the country’s penal code. According to Equal Ground, a non-profit organisation seeking human and political rights for the Sri Lanka’s LGBT community, “Homosexuality is viewed as shameful and abnormal and is often termed as a psychological disturbance, manifestation of sins from previous lives and/or a disease.” It’s not often I wish I had a vagina, but as there’s no legal provision against lesbians, this
“I thought I would lose my job and my family would disown me. I wanted to kill myself.” is one of those times. Male homosexuality is punishable by a jail term of up to 10 years. It seems odd that vestiges of an antiquated 1883 anti-sodomy law (introduced by the British) remain while nearly all other reminders of colonialism have been swept away. It’s midnight by the time I land. I sail through immigration and customs unhindered; tired staff offer the most cursory of glances at my credentials. Travel-weary and flight-fuzzy, I fall
into a cab and head to the hotel. Whenever I go overseas, I usually know within the first hour whether I’m going to enjoy the experience. The measure of vacation bliss for me is culture shock. I don’t want a sanitised-pedestrianDisney-vanilla-holiday. I want excitement. I want an assault on the senses. Culture shock is common when travelling. It might be subtle differences like driving on the other side of the road. Sometimes it’s extreme climates or unusual and exotic languages. Occasionally, it’s experiences so bizarre you might be in a different universe. Within minutes of arriving in Colombo it’s the latter and my emotions crackle with sensory overload. The road from the airport to my beach-side hotel is a maelstrom of wildly-weaving vehicles with ear-bleedingly-loud horns. There is a young man perched atop a power pole fixing a highvoltage cable in the rain – screwdriver in one hand – an umbrella in the other. There is an old man in a wheelchair in the middle of the highway – in the dark. Although Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009 there are occasional reminders of the country’s violent past, like a gun barrel in your face. Roadside checkpoints are everywhere in Colombo and you must keep your passport with you at all times. The soldiers are friendly enough but no amount of congeniality can make up for a face-off with a semi-automatic rifle. By the time I arrive at my hotel, adrenalin rush has faded to tiredness; autopilot kicks in, which safely navigates check in, shower and teeth-