Nepal gays draw heart from Ricky Martin

The Times of India

Published: 3/30/10

KATHMANDU: Latino heartthrob Ricky Martin’s announcement through his official web site that he is gay comes as a shot in the arm for Nepal’s homosexual community, who are hoping it will help them win a case against “injustice”.

“We are absolutely joyous that Ricky Martin has honestly revealed his sexual orientation,” said Sunil Babu Pant, the Himalayan nation’s only openly gay celebrity who is now also an icon for the sexual minorities in South Asia. “The coming out of celebrities helps the cause of grassroot lesbian, gay and third gender people. It raises their self-esteem and makes society regard them with a more positive attitude.”

Pant, who is an MP as well as founder of Blue Diamond Society (BDS), Nepal’s pioneer gay rights organisation, is hoping that the Ricky Martin incident will help the court case BDS is fighting to get justice for a lesbian traffic cop who has been under arrest since last month. Ramina Hussain, in her late 20s, says she fell in love with a 17-year-old girl she met while being pressed into domestic duty at the resident of a senior police officer. The two, according to Hussain, fell in love despite fierce opposition from the former’s family.

According to the deposition filed in Supreme Court, the teen decided to leave her home and the two began living together about three months ago. When her family came to know where she had gone, they forced her to come back and compelled her to say Hussain had kidnapped her, subsequently leading to Hussain’s arrest. BDS says the teen’s aunt is a senior police officer and so, there is pressure from police authorities to prevent Hussain’s release under bail. The hearing is being deliberately stalled.

Pant wishes gay celebrities in Nepal would also start coming out of the closet, which would help erasing the discrimination and injustice faced by gays in the lower rungs of society. “There are gays in Nepal’s high society as well as Bollywood and Hollywood,” he says. “There are some in the extended former royal family of Nepal as well. However, it takes time to come out.”

Martin’s revelation, he says, is no surprise to the world gay community. “During international conferences, when we discussed potentially gay celebrities, Martin’s name often popped up. Being a family man and in limelight, it takes a lot of guts to come out. Congratulations, Martin, for coming out as you are, finally.”

Saturday 4/10 - SALGA Monthly Support Group Meeting

Join SALGA for our monthly support group meeting.
The theme for this month will be

Friendships

With the arrival of spring, it’s time to take stock of our relationships, and not just our romantic ones. Whether you’ve been thinking about taking leave of someone who’s been bringing you down, or it’s time to take the initiative with a new friend at work, friendships can bring their own unique brand of personal drama. Mixing old friends and new, mourning the loss of friends you thought would be around forever, or feeling lonely and not sure where to meet your next best pal — whatever it is, come talk about it at SALGA’s next monthly Support Group.

(As always, the topic is a guide, but please bring whatever issues are current for you as well.)

Date: Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Time: 4 - 6pm
Location: LGBT Center

SALGA’s monthly support group meetings are a SAFE, CONFIDENTIAL space for you to join a group atmosphere to talk about issues that affect your life and well-being. We provide a supportive atmosphere to all attendees

Punjab, Haryana categorise eunuchs as male for govt jobs

A small victory for Pakistan’s transgenders

Mark Magnier, LA Times

Published 03/03/2010

Reporting from Rawalpindi, Pakistan — Wearing a red knit bonnet, matching lipstick and a shawl over her large shoulders and muscular forearms, Nanni gently sought to clear up some confusion as the call to prayer sounded from a nearby mosque.

“I’m a ’she-male,’ ” said Nanni, a kind of den mother for a dozen or so fellow hijra, or transgender people, in a rundown neighborhood of Rawalpindi. “We all are.”

Sharing two small rooms halfway along a dark dirt alley and up a steep flight of steps, Nanni’s family is one made, not born: a community of outcasts forced together after their families abandoned them, their indeterminate sex unnerving this patriarchal society — especially the ascendant Pakistani Taliban.

“We are God’s creatures,” Nanni said. “Even if many people don’t accept us, we feel the same here in the den as if we are of the same blood. We do everything to take care of one another.”

Dominating one room was a rough-hewn double bed that the dozen or so hijra, some more than 6 feet tall, use in shifts. The walls were covered with pictures of hijra beauties of the Mughal era that ended more than a century ago, a time when transgender people were not only accepted but also enjoyed significant power and prestige.

Asked whether the hijra family members were all congenital eunuchs and hermaphrodites, Nanni, 35, insisted that they were all born that way. To prove the point, she ordered Akri, a hermaphrodite whose broad face was softened by mascara and a scarf, to drop her traditional outfit and show her private parts.

Hijra have long been stigmatized and subject to discrimination and abuse in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, with its rigorously defined roles for men and women. But in a landmark decision in December, the Supreme Court ordered that they be protected from police harassment, be eligible for a separate gender category on ID cards and be recognized under inheritance laws.

“We need proper rights,” said Noor, a 21-year-old member of Nanni’s household. “No one listens to our concerns.”

Although nascent legal status is a first step, social acceptance is likely to take far longer. Noor and the others said police officers and residents often beat, harass, rob and sexually abuse them.

“You get used to it,” said Nanni, who as the guru, or head of the hijra family, is combination parent, boss and enforcer. “It only shows how stupid their mentality is.”

Continue reading…

SALGA Facilitator Training

Date: Saturday, April 3rd