Looking for a LGBT community in Tibet is futile. Of the handful of modern reports about gay life in Tibet, since 1999, only one writer claims to have encountered more than one or two gay individuals, usually by chance. Jump ahead to my own visit in 2013 when I did not find any gay person
Tibet was once an independent kingdom but today is part of the People’s Republic of China following an invasion in 1959. Some of Tibet’s diplomatic allies, as well as sympathetic scholarly and non-governmental bodies, are based in India, including the government-in-exile headed by the Dalai Lama.
In short, homosexuality is not illegal in Tibet because it was not specified as illegal in the country. But the Chinese invasion brought strong prohibitions against homosexauslity. In Buddhist Tibet there is a long cultural tradition of considering same-sex behavior to be sexual misconduct. Buddhism is most concerned with whether an action is helpful, based on good intentions, and freedom from harm. Thus, a specific act can sometimes be either permissible or not permissible, depending upon its context. There is no special limitation here that applies uniquely to homosexuals. Following a devotional path of Buddha, persons of all sexual orientations are to remain celibate.
Name: Tibet
Population: 2610000
Capital: Lhasa - Pop. 260000
Area: 1158800 sq. km/ sq. miles
Language: Tibetan, Chinese
Religion: Buddhism
Status of Homosexuality: Not illegal
Telephone Country Code: 86
The Shadow of The Dalai Lama, 2014/Jan/13
Tibetan Buddhism and comments by the Dalai Lama:, 2014/Jan/13
Gay Marriage Popular In China (Sort Of), 2013/Oct/24
Queer Politics and Tibet, 2011/Oct/09
Do Monks Have Sex?, 1999/Feb/14