Sunil Babu Pant: Protecting Nepal's LGBTQ+ Community
In the early 2000s, Sunil Babu Pant, the founder of Nepal's Blue Diamond Society, shares a heart-wrenching story about a meti (third gender) individual who succumbed to AIDS. Stigmatized and denied adequate medical assistance, the patient passed away in a hospital corridor. After her death, further humiliation ensued as no ambulance would transport her remains, and no priest would conduct the last rites. Pant and his team were compelled to pay a taxi driver 500 times the standard fare to move the body to a less prominent temple. This incident inspired the community to engage in the Gai Jatra festival, a historic event promoting gender diversity, which dates back to a 17th-century king's decree allowing crossdressing. Pant served as Asia's first openly gay parliament member from 2008 to 2012 and continues to advocate through film and education.
Key facts
- Sunil Babu Pant founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2001 at age 29.
- The organization initially focused on HIV prevention and condom distribution.
- A meti patient died of AIDS in a hospital corridor after being moved from the men's ward.
- No ambulance would transport the body due to AIDS stigma.
- Pant paid a taxi driver 500 times the usual fee to transport the body.
- No priest would perform last rites; they found a pandit at a less auspicious temple.
- The Gai Jatra festival, dating to the 17th century, became a platform for LGBTQ+ expression.
- Pant was the first openly gay member of parliament in Asia from 2008 to 2012.
Entities
Artists
- Sunil Babu Pant
- Sarah Kaushik
- Howard Kaplan
Institutions
- Blue Diamond Society
- Rubin Museum of Art
- Spiral magazine
- Smithsonian
Locations
- Nepal
- Kathmandu
- Bagmati river
- Washington, DC
- New York City
- Netherlands