The Case of Blue Diamond Society and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, and Intersex (LGBTI) Community in Nepal:
Raising Awareness About Sexual Health and Human Rights Through Civic
Engagement and Community Empowerment
Alexandra Lesnikowski
Research questions: How does Blue Diamond Society build an active civic community among
LGBTI individuals? What tools does this community use to educate both community and noncommunity members about the rights and issues of sexual and gender minorities?
Making Equal Rights Real/Vers la pleine réalisation
de l'égalité des droits
May 1, 2010
McGill University
THE GLOBAL STATUS OF THE LGBTI COMMUNITY
• 80: The number of countries in which homosexual acts are
identified as illegal in legislation.
• 16: The number of countries in which hate crimes based on
sexual orientation are considered an aggravating
circumstance.
• 7: The number of countries in which same sex marriage has
been legalized.
• No UN convention explicitly mentions sexual orientation as
grounds for discrimination, or identifies LGBTI individuals as a
particular social group with rights.
THE STATUS OF THE NEPALESE LGBTI COMMUNITY
• Family exclusion
• Education and employment
discrimination
• Increased risk of HIV/AIDS
infection: Concentrated epidemic
within the MSM* community
• Persecution from security
establishments
• Public harassment and sexual
abuse
• Psychological pressure
* Men having sex with men
PROJECT METHODOLOGY
• Organization chosen based on its demonstrated success in
rights advocacy
• 54 semi-structured interviews conducted during June and July
of 2009
• Site visits arranged at 7 BDS offices throughout the
Kathmandu Valley
• Collection of project reports detailing outreach numbers,
program content, and financial support
BLUE DIAMOND SOCIETY:
A PHILOSOPHY OF COMMUNITY-BASED ADVOCACY
• “For the community, by the
community”
• Organizational
goal:
To
create an environment of
respect in which sexual and
gender minorities can live
with dignity, equality and
opportunity.
“BDS has been providing different kinds of opportunities
for the community members themselves to come and
gather and share their experiences, and through their
experiences [to] create an awareness among
themselves about their own sexuality and their gender
and their basic human rights that they have to have.”
Anonymous, 24 [BDS community participant]. Interview by Author, Kathmandu, Nepal. 8 July 2009.
BLUE DIAMOND SOCIETY:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION
•
September 2001: Founded in Kathmandu by
Sunil Babu Pant
•
Initial focus on HIV prevention and education
within the MSM community
•
Gradual transition to human rights focus
•
May 2007: Foundation of the Federation of
Sexual and Gender Minorities Nepal
•
December 2007: Supreme Court ruling in
favour of legislation guaranteeing the rights
of sexual and gender minorities (SGM)
•
April 2008: Sunil Babu Pant elected by
Communuist Party of Nepal (United) to the
Parliament and Constitutional Assembly of
Nepal as South Asia’s first openly gay MP
Hon. Sunil Babu Pant (Google)
BLUE DIAMOND SOCIETY:
WHAT IS IT ACCOMPLISHING?
• Creating a safe space for self-expression and information sharing
• Building a collective voice for LGBTI individuals and organizing a platform
for social change
• Empowering LGBTI individuals with a desire to work for change, both for
themselves and for other members of the community
• Breaking down information barriers about sexual health and increasing
access to STI prevention and treatment
• Legislative and Constitutional reforms to protect the rights of LGBTI
individuals
• Creating a South Asian network of LGBTI organizations
BLUE DIAMOND SOCIETY:
OUTREACH STRATEGIES
COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
NON-COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
• Locating and communicating with • Media outreach: radio, television,
anonymous community
newspaper
members.
• Personal profiles and stories:
• Face-to-face outreach built on
sharing experiences of
existing underground networks of
marginalization and empowerment
MSM communities
• Information sharing sessions:
• Prevention Offices and Drop-In
policy-makers, NGO leaders, police
Centres that provide monthly
and military officials, journalists
information sessions, counseling,
• Political outreach: Constitutional
testing, and treatment
Assembly and Parliament
• Capacity building programs for
representatives
BDS members
BLUE DIAMOND SOCIETY:
FUTURE PROJECTS
• Curriculum reform in schools
and universities: Promoting
tolerance and STI awareness
among young leaders
• Same-sex marriage: Is Nepal
next?
• South Asian Human Rights
Commission for Sexual and
Gender Minorities: Building
a regional LGBTI movement
MEASURES OF SUCCESS
Outreach numbers
•
•
•
•
Approx. 105,000 community members identified
Outreach operations in 40 of Nepal’s 75 districts
350 MSM receiving STI treatment at the
Kathmandu Care and Support Centre
Approx. 5,000 community members accessing
legal services
Creating a community of trust
•
•
•
Building self-confidence and a sense of worth
Empowering individuals with an understanding of
their rights
Spreading a sense of ownership over shared
issues
Rights-based advocacy approach
•
•
Engaging in a broader discussion about the rights
of sexual and gender minorities
Refusing to limit the discussion of MSM issues to
sexual health
Gai Jatra: Annual Kathmandu pride parade (Google)
LIMITATIONS
Paradox of the single platform approach
•
•
•
Including individuals of diverse sexual orientations and gender expressions built a larger and more visible
movement and avoided fragmentation common to other advocacy movements in Nepal
Creating a single voice for such a wide range of experiences tends to oversimplify forms of discrimination
that the community faces
Results in a less nuanced understanding of sexuality, gender, inclusion, and exclusion in Nepal
Weakness of vocational training programs
•
•
•
Goal is to empower community members to be economically independent
Problems arise from the limited participation of community members that is the result of an overly urbancentred project and casual attitudes of community members toward the courses
Participants also suffer from limited opportunities for employment following completion of the programs
Balancing community-based participation with organizational growth
•
•
•
How do you ensure equal inclusion and participation for all members as BDS expands and becomes more
organizationally complex?
While the HIV/AIDS program has remained decentralized and inclusive, the Human Rights Program
remains urban-based and only operates out of BDS’ five regional branches
Will BDS expand the Human Rights Program to district level outreach offices?
OBSTACLES
Low capacity levels of community members
•
•
•
Low levels of literacy, economic independence, and administrative skills among community members
mean that BDS faces shortages in qualified staff members
Top level administrative responsibilities tend to be carried out by the same staff members
Non-community members are frequently hired to fill vital posts as attorneys, finance officers, and
administrative coordinators
Funding limitations
•
•
•
BDS operates in 40 of Nepal’s 75 districts and would like to expand to cover the remaining 35
Budgetary constraints limit BDS’ expansion, meaning that many community members are unaware of its
existence
Donor politics and preferences sometimes limit access to additional funding or new sources
Government conservatism and the challenge of legislative implementation
•
•
•
The government of Nepal plays a vital role drafting LGBTI legislation and enforcing implementation
Advocacy officers note that conservatism in certain segments of the government is slowing
implementation of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding non-discrimination based on sexuality and
gender
BDS also finds itself competing for attention with other sensitive issues that the new government and
Constitute makers are trying to address
LESSONS LEARNED
Context is key
•
•
•
Sexuality and gender are deeply rooted in cultural, historical, and social contexts.
Within Nepal these experiences often differ according to religious tradition, caste and class
position, and ethnicity.
Definitions of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression must remain fluid
and open to new interpretations, or we risk marginalizing those whose experiences with
gender and sexuality do not conform to our own.
Importance of community-based rights advocacy
•
•
•
Given that the discourse on gender and sexuality developed largely in a Western context, it is
vital that space is created for new voices to share their experiences and perspectives on
sexuality and gender rights.
A bottom-up exploration of sexuality and gender will better inform our understanding of
sexuality and rights, and reflect the needs and aspirations of SGM communities.
Engaging in this introspective dialogue may also help build a stronger sense of selfawareness and better empower community members to understand and defend their rights.
LESSONS LEARNED
Personalized approach to advocacy
•
•
This strategy builds a stronger sense of ownership over a movement, which encourages
participation and builds community capacity.
Public media outreach that focuses on individual stories about community members is also
an important way of putting a face on the movement for rights, thereby helping noncommunity members understand why the movement is important and how marginalized
people can be equally included.
Importance of integrating short-term and long-term goals
•
•
Moving beyond the HIV/Aids topic to a rights-based discourse is an essential step in ensuring
that those conditions that make this community more vulnerable to HIV/Aids are improved,
and that the rights of this community are respected.
Ultimately making this transition is both instrumentally important, because it helps fulfill
goals of reducing STI vulnerability, and intrinsically important, since it advocates for the
respect and inclusion of the SGM community.