The Hon. (Dr.) Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana
Hon. Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana questioned the Prime Minister about a 9 September 2025 letter from the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau that appeared to authorize engagement with tourism stakeholders to promote LGBTQ tourism. He asked whether the Government had rescinded the letter or taken action against the Chairperson, arguing that if such activity is unlawful under Section 365A, officials should not issue letters facilitating it.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Prime Minister, my first supplementary: I saw a letter dated 09 September 2025, from the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Buddika Hewawasan, stating: “Accordingly, Sri Lanka Tourism is pleased to endorse this initiative and grant you the authority to liaise with relevant stakeholders in the tourism industry, including tour operators, hotels, training institutes, guides, and drivers...” It appears to grant authority to promote LGBTQ tourism. You clarified the positions of H.E. the President and the Minister. Has action been taken against this Chairperson, or has the Government rescinded this letter? One arm says we grant sexual freedom to 16-year-old schoolchildren; another, on official letterhead, appears to promote LGBTQ tourism. If, as per Section 365A, such is unlawful, what action has been taken against the official who issued a letter enabling an unlawful activity?
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 8 October 2025 ·No. 22594 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Kavinda Heshan Jayawardhana. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 8 October 2025. No. 22594. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/18716