When Jude Rameshkanth, 28, a hospitality employee working overseas, returned home to his family in eastern Sri Lanka this January, his father organized an arranged marriagefor him with a woman. But Rameshkanth repeatedly explained to his family that he identifies himself as gay, and so has no interest in marrying a woman. His family continued to pressure him to enter a heterosexual marriage. “My brother told me that if I do not get married, his life will also be spoiled. [Late next day] I [escaped] from home, and took the bus to Colombo,” Rameshkanth told DW.