KATMANDU, Nepal — Hundreds of Nepal’s LGBT citizens are parading through Nepal’s capital to celebrate Gaijatra, a Hindu festival gleefully overtaken each year by the country’s gay community and cheered by onlookers.
Thousands of Nepalese lined the cobblestoned streets of Katmandu’s old city Monday to catch a glimpse of those parading, some carrying banners or rainbow-colored balloons, others tooting horns and ringing chimes.
In the socially conservative Hindu-majority nation, the festival was traditionally the only day people felt free to cross-dress. But norms are changing fast as this fledgling Himalayan democracy emerges from centuries of religious monarchy.
A government committee is recommending same-sex marriage be guaranteed in a new constitution, giving gay and lesbian couples the right to adopt, buy joint property, open joint bank accounts and inherit from one another.
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All of the country’s political parties have already backed the idea. Many within the country’s small gay community hope this means the legislation can be passed with a new constitution by the end of the year.
“When we gather again next year, we hope we are able celebrate the new law,” said 28-year-old Bipin Lamichane, who wants to marry the partner he has lived with for five years. But changing laws, he said, may be easier than changing minds in a country where arranged marriage is still the norm, and up to a decade ago homosexuals were routinely jailed for up to three months on accusations of “unnatural sex.”
“Sometimes even if we get laws in writing, there is a big problem of implementation,” Lamichane said. “There is still more that needs done.”
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