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Gay Pride News: Nepal will host its very first gay pride march this summer.
By: Nigel Robinson
Nepal promotes gay weddings on Mount Everest
Nepal promotes gay weddings on Mount Everest
Nepal to host first Gay Pride event
Speaking to news agency AFP, Sunil Pant, Nepal’s only openly gay Member of Parliament, said that the event would take place on 25th August in Kathmandu.
He hoped that the event would attract up to 3,000 participants from Nepal and neighbouring countries.
"We want to make this a truly international event," said Pant, a well-known gay rights campaigner. "Nepal has made so much progress on gay issues in the last few years, and we hope to spread hope and inspire others."
The date coincides with the Hindu festival of Gai Jatra, which commemorates the lives of those who have died in the past year. Traditionally men dress up in women’s clothes for the day, and for some years now the festival has been adopted by the Nepalese gay community.
Pant said that the gay pride parade would include live music and colourfully dressed horses and elephants, and would end with a candlelit remembrance service for victims of HIV and homophobic violence.
Homosexuality was legalised in Nepal in 2007 and the country’s Supreme Court is said to be in favour of same-sex marriage.
Recently the Nepalese tourist board has been promoting the country as a gay-friendly destination, even offering gay weddings on the slopes of Mount Everest.
