Sunday, August 14, 2011

Hundreds Rally in Nepal for Sexual Rights

Hundreds of gay, lesbian, transgender people marched with supporters in a southern Nepal town today to demand equal rights under a new constitution the country is in the process of writing.

The estimated 500 demonstrators danced, chanted slogans and marched around Narayanghat, a town about 100 miles south of the capital of Katmandu today, which is also Nepal's traditional festival of Gaijatra honouring the dead.

The gay community has been holding demonstrations on the festival day in the capital, but it was the first time that activists have organised a rally outside the capital.

Gay rights activists and parliament member Sunil Pant said their main aim was to spread their campaign outside the capital city.

Nepal, a traditionally conservative, mostly Hindu nation, has only recently begun accepting homosexuality. The country is also in the process of writing a new constitution which could include provisions to guarantee rights for the sexual minorities.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/hundreds-rally-in-nepal-for-sexual-rights-2337596.html