hahahaha that's very reasonable request. Where I am from, we believe in dating someone who’s our equal( people could argue this is bad) but so far, I've seen it's easier to date someone who's on the same level as you are.
Over here, before anyone get married, they have to undergo a pre-marital screening, so it's given and pretty basic these days as that's how they could go with their marriage registration. You were definitely being gaslighted but guess different culture, different expectations :D
Date someone who is at your level (learned this the hard way), do pre-marital screening, yes those stuff aren't the stuff people do here and I can get behind this idea a hundred percent.