Themal Ellawala ’17, a psychology major at Clark University, returned to Sri Lanka this summer to research how culture, gender norms and stigma affect non-heterosexuals in the island nation where he grew up.

Ellawala (pictured) is interviewing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and others (LGBTQ+) who fall under this “non-heterosexual” umbrella in and near Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka. His research – which is supported by Clark’s Steinbrecher Fellowship as well as the Simon and Eve Colin Award for Undergraduate Creativity in Psychology – confirms how sexual minorities in Sri Lanka have “suffered through in silence” as they experience “multiple forms of oppression,” he says.

Read more at Clark’s ResearchMatters hub…