ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake called on the island nation’s influential Buddhist leaders days after they warned against his government’s LGBTQ plans to boost more tourists.
The Chief Prelates of all three Buddhist Chapters earlier this week wrote to President Dissanayake expressing concern over the government initiatives including LGBTQ tourism promotion and warned that the new moves could harm cultural values and lead to serious social consequences.
In their letter, the Buddhist leaders pointed out that efforts aimed at promoting tourism through LGBTQ-related activities, could give rise to what they described as “serious social catastrophes.”
They also raised objections to proposed amendments to the Penal Code, which seek to introduce an offence of corporal punishment, which may have negative implications.
President Dissanayake on Friday met Chief Prelates of the Malwathu and Asgiri Chapters and received their blessings, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said in a statement.
It further said the President “engaged in a brief discussion and received blessings” without elaborating.
Later he also visited the Asgiri temple and met the Chief Prelate of Asgiri Chapter and “engaged in a brief conversation”.
In Sri Lanka, religious leaders from all major faiths have expressed strong opposition to the promotion of pro-LGBTQ laws, even when such reforms are framed as a means to boost tourism and attract foreign visitors.
Their resistance is rooted in the belief that LGBTQ rights conflict with traditional cultural values, family structures, and religious teachings that view heterosexual marriage as the only acceptable form of union.
Many clerics argue that legal recognition or public promotion of LGBTQ rights would erode the country’s moral fabric and encourage practices they consider sinful or unnatural.
They also fear that prioritizing tourism revenue through liberal reforms could compromise the nation’s religious identity and set a precedent for foreign influence in domestic policy.
As a result, religious leaders have been vocal in urging the government to preserve what they call Sri Lanka’s “cultural integrity,” warning that aligning laws with global liberal trends could trigger social backlash and deepen divisions between conservative communities and advocates of progressive change. (Colombo/October 3/2025)
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