CLAD in pink, blue and yellow clothes, more than 250 LGBT athletes took part in a sports festival at the weekend in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, billed by organisers as the first in South Asia.
About 1,500 spectators
cheered as the athletes, waving rainbow coloured-flags, marched at the
Dasharath Stadium in the heart of Kathmandu in the opening ceremony of the
three-day event that showed how attitudes are changing, albeit slowly, in the
conservative Hindu-majority nation.
The athletes were accompanied
by masked dancers and Panche baja—musicians playing Nepal's traditional
instruments including pipes and drums. "After I participated in the
tournament, my confidence has increased," said 29-year-old Bakti Shah, who
took part in football and athletics.
American Olympic diving
champion Greg Louganis, on a visit to Nepal to support the rights of sexual
minorities, kicked off the event at a football match, wearing a Nepali cloth
cap and cream-coloured Buddhist prayer scarf.
"Initially I was a
little worried whether we will be able to hold such a big event in a major
public venue," said well-known activist Sunil Babu Pant, founder of the
Blue Diamond Society, a leading gay rights group. "We have done it and proved
that we can do," added Pant, a former member of parliament.
Homosexuality is still taboo
in Nepal, which doesn't have clear laws about the rights of the increasingly
assertive gay community. Same sex marriages have taken place in public, but
wedding certificates are not given by authorities as there are no laws that
recognise such unions. People found guilty of "unnatural sex" face up
to one year in jail.
Until about six years ago,
homosexuals were beaten on the streets of Kathmandu and arrested.
"Personal attitudes in the conservative society are slowly changing. It is
a good thing," Pant said.
Nepal, the birthplace of
Buddha, emerged from 10 years of Maoist conflict in 2006, after which the
country began to increasingly recognise the rights of the underprivileged communities.
In 2007, the country's
Supreme Court ordered the government to do away with laws that discriminate
against gays and guarantee them the same rights as other citizens. Gay beauty
contests are now organised and held, and gay pride parades have been held in
several major cities, including Kathmandu.
Early this year, a teenage
boy who underwent a sex-change operation in Thailand was welcomed home by his
family as the country's first known transsexual.
Gays still face numerous
difficulties. Schools and colleges won't accept them, and they have trouble
getting national identity cards in the gender they prefer. But ordinary Nepalis
were positive about the event.
"I think it is good
they have assembled here for the sports tournament," said a 24-year-old
college student Raju Shakya. "They should be entitled to the same rights
as others without discrimination. They are also human beings like us." (Reuters)
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