Source: Times of India, AFP, IANS via Thaindian.com
The wind of change that swept through Nepal in the form of a historic election this month, dethroned its king, once revered as god, and instead gave power to the former Maoist guerrillas, will also see a fresh social revolution with the first gay representative being nominated to the new constituent assembly, reports Times of India.

"We have chosen Sunil Babu Pant as our candidate to ensure the rights of gay and other minority groups," Ganesh Shah, general secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (United), told AFP.

Shah’s CPN-U party won five seats in the assembly under the proportional representation system.

"He will be the first person to represent Nepal's gay community," Shah said.

"We hope it will improve the lives of a people who are the most repressed in Nepal, disowned both by society and their own families," he added.

Pant, 35, a Belarus-educated computer engineer, founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2002. It is now one of the best known gay rights groups in South Asia. The group fights for molested and detained gays, educates for HIV/AIDS awareness, runs a hospice for terminally ill gay patients, and provides training and jobs to members of the community.

"Representing a sexual minority I will make sure the new constitution protects sexual groups, people with disabilities, small indigenous castes and others," Pant told AFP.

Polls for the new constituent assembly were central to a peace deal between Maoists and mainstream parties that ended a decade long civil war in Nepal, a largely Hindu, caste-dominated and conservative nation.

On April 10, as Nepal held the historic election to decide the fate of its 239-year-old monarchy, the CPN-U quietly contributed to a social revolution, becoming the only party to support 12 members of the sexual minorities. The sexual minorities for the first time in Nepal’s history contested the election independently or as CPN-U nominees.

The unusual candidates included two eunuchs who supported themselves by singing and dancing at weddings, homosexuals, lesbians and transgenders.

Although none of the CPN-U nominees won, the Left party received a shot in the arm in the second phase of the complicated election system when voting under proportional representation gave the party an unexpected five seats in the assembly.

“The central committee of the party met Wednesday and decided to nominate Pant among the five members,” CPN-U leader Ganesh Shah told IANS.

The gay rights movement received a boost last year when Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled that gays were “natural” people who should be protected by the state against discrimination.

Although the high court ordered the government to enact laws for the protection of gay rights, the Girija Prasad Koirala government, preoccupied with its own survival, has not implemented the order.

Pant’s entry into the constituent assembly, which has been mandated to draft a new, pro-people constitution in two years, is expected to greatly benefit the gay rights movement.

With the number of sexual minorities estimated to be more than 50,000, Nepal’s political parties are now realising their importance as a vote bank.

For the first time, the ruling Nepali Congress party pledged to uphold gay rights in its election manifesto while the Maoists, who emerged as the largest party after the April 10 election, have adopted a more tolerant stance towards them, reports IANS.

Till last year, Maoist cadres intimidated and hunted out sexual minorities, asking landlords not to accept them as tenants and warning gays not to “pollute” society.

Full article: Nepal gets its first gay representative in parliament | Times of India
Nepal gets first gay politician | AFP
Nepal gets its first gay lawmaker | Thaindian.com (IANS)