{"id":154728,"date":"2026-02-14T14:50:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T21:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=154728"},"modified":"2026-02-14T14:50:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T21:50:28","slug":"sri-lankan-government-officially-withdrew-its-support-for-a-campaign-aimed-at-promoting-the-country-as-an-inclusive-destination-for-lgbtq-tourists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/02\/14\/sri-lankan-government-officially-withdrew-its-support-for-a-campaign-aimed-at-promoting-the-country-as-an-inclusive-destination-for-lgbtq-tourists\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lankan government officially\u00a0withdrew its support\u00a0for a campaign aimed at promoting the country as an inclusive destination for\u00a0LGBTQ+ tourists."},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Sri Lanka News<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>In February 2026, the&nbsp;Sri Lankan government officially&nbsp;<strong>withdrew its support<\/strong>&nbsp;for a campaign aimed at promoting the country as an inclusive destination for&nbsp;<strong>LGBTQ+ tourists<\/strong>. This reversal followed intense pressure from influential religious leaders, including senior Buddhist monks and the head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The decision impacted the following areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Policy Withdrawal:<\/strong>\u00a0The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=i&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;url=https:\/\/www.ucanews.com\/news\/sri-lanka-drops-lgbtq-tourism-plan-amid-religious-pressure\/111876&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjgzseA_NiSAxVoW0EAHVU7D0IQy_kOegQIAxAB&amp;opi=89978449&amp;cd&amp;psig=AOvVaw0Cqf8bIn_8Ol3ChniAW_m6&amp;ust=1771158041610000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA)<\/a>\u00a0rescinded a letter of support for a project proposed by the advocacy group\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=i&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;url=https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2026\/02\/10\/sri-lanka-withdraws-support-for-lgbt-tourism\/&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjgzseA_NiSAxVoW0EAHVU7D0IQy_kOegQIAxAC&amp;opi=89978449&amp;cd&amp;psig=AOvVaw0Cqf8bIn_8Ol3ChniAW_m6&amp;ust=1771158041610000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Equal Ground<\/a>, which sought to market the island as a safe and welcoming destination for diverse travellers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Religious Opposition:<\/strong>\u00a0Prominent figures, such as\u00a0<strong>Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith<\/strong>\u00a0and leaders of the three main Buddhist monastic chapters, argued that promoting such tourism undermined the nation&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>moral and cultural heritage<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Legal Context:<\/strong>\u00a0The Attorney General confirmed the withdrawal during a court hearing for a writ petition filed by citizens who claimed the initiative was\u00a0<strong>unconstitutional<\/strong>\u00a0and encouraged &#8220;unethical&#8221; behaviour.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Impact on Image:<\/strong>\u00a0While tourism officials originally viewed the project as a way to\u00a0<strong>diversify markets<\/strong>\u00a0and boost foreign exchange, the government ultimately prioritised alignment with national traditional values.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Would you like more details on the current&nbsp;<strong>safety advisories<\/strong>&nbsp;for travelers or information on Sri Lanka&#8217;s&nbsp;<strong>general tourism targets<\/strong>&nbsp;for 2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sri Lanka News In February 2026, the&nbsp;Sri Lankan government officially&nbsp;withdrew its support&nbsp;for a campaign aimed at promoting the country as an inclusive destination for&nbsp;LGBTQ+ tourists. This reversal followed intense pressure from influential religious leaders, including senior Buddhist monks and the head of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.&nbsp; The decision impacted the following areas: Would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,168],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154729,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154728\/revisions\/154729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}