On Thursday, the city’s LGBTI community gathered and raised slogans such as, ‘Save Democracy, Protect Sexual Minorities’ and ‘Dushmani Hatao, Dostana Badhao’ (Remove enmity, encourage friendship).

“We have moved from being a marginalised and persecuted lot who were thrown out of homes, schools and jobs to people who have human rights and are now protected by the police, the same people who once harassed us,” said Pant. Pant is the founder of the Blue Diamond Society (2003), a network of 20 groups and organisations working on HIV/AIDS, human rights and social justice issues for sexual and gender minorities in Nepal.  “India is the world’s biggest democracy. It’s shocking and saddening to see that basic human rights of sexual and gender minorities are denied,” said the 34-year-old former software engineer. Pant has just returned from Bangalore after meeting with Sangama members and the transgenders who were allegedly subjected to police brutality, illegal detention, custodial torture and sexual assault.

“In Nepal, the LGBTI communities were part of the campaign for garnering votes for the Communist Party of Nepal (UML),” said Pant. “They approached me to campaign and I managed to secure 15,500 votes. It makes a statement that LGBTI people are interested in matters of politics and governance and not just sex,” he said.

“The campaign not only gave LGBTI issues visibility but a platform to negotiate for rights. The Nepal government now recognises the third gender (LBGTIs),” he added. Pant is also working with the government to sanction a shelter for homeless LBGTI population and poverty alleviation of sexual minorities. “It is one thing to clean up the city and stop transgenders from begging but one must provide them with alternative means of living,” said Pant. He says that in Nepal, transgenders are now trained as beauticians and hair dressers while lesbians run a public transport system.