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Nepal gets its first gay
representative in parliament
 01
May 2008- 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.
Sunil Babu Pant, a 35-year-old crusader
for gay rights who founded the first organisation to protect the rights of the
sexual minorities and ushered in a social revolution, now becomes part of
Nepal's political history as well after being chosen by a minor communist party
to represent it in the 601-member constituent assembly.
"We are honoured to send Pant as our
representative to the constituent assembly," said Ganesh Shah of Communist
Party, who’s Communist Party of Nepal-United (CPN-U) has won five seats in the
assembly under the proportional representation system.
"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, a computer engineer from Belarus,
founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2002. It is now one of the best known gay
rights groups in South Asia, fighting for molested and detained gays, spreads
HIV/AIDS awareness, runs a hospice for terminally ill gay patients and provides
training and jobs to members of the community.
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