#queer nepal

[atavist]

Two women promised they would see the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time once they were together. They had no idea how long that would take—bureaucracy, bigotry, and the pandemic stood in their way.

“Love, Interrupted,” Atavist issue no. 154, is now live:

Now 1,100 miles apart, the two women texted and called each other incessantly. Shree wanted more. She knew that Ashwini was on the cusp of an arranged marriage, which had already cost Shree one relationship. “I like you,” she told Ashwini after a few weeks. “But if it’s a no, that’s fine. We should stop talking right now.”

Ashwini wasn’t sure what to do. She knew the risks she faced: Walking away from an arranged marriage would almost certainly require coming out to her parents, and once her orientation was no longer a secret, who knew what kind of condemnation or rejection she might face—personal, professional, or otherwise? Plus, she would have to learn to accept herself for who she was. The alternative, however, was a life without Shree.

A few days after Ashwini’s 30th birthday, she video-called Shree. Looking at Shree’s face, she knew that she was ready to make the leap. Ashwini asked Shree to be her girlfriend.

[reasonsforhope]

"Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill on Wednesday that would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender.

The bill passed its final reading with the approval of 400 of the 415 members of the House of Representatives in attendance, with 10 voting against it, two abstaining and three not voting.

Thailand has a reputation for acceptance and inclusivity but has struggled for decades to pass a marriage equality law. Thai society largely holds conservative values, and members of the LGBTQ+ community say they face discrimination in everyday life. The government and state agencies are also historically conservative, and advocates for gender equality have had a hard time pushing lawmakers and civil servants to accept change.

[Note: As always, worth noting that all of those things can be said about the US and plenty of Western countries too. The West isn't magically non-homophobic.]

The bill now goes to the Senate, which rarely rejects any legislation that passes the lower house, and then to the king for royal endorsement. This would make Thailand the first country or region in Southeast Asia to pass such a law and the third in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal.

The bill amends the Civil and Commercial Code to change the words “men and women” and “husband and wife” to “individuals” and “marriage partners.” It would open up access to full legal, financial and medical rights for LGBTQ+ couples...

The new government led by Pheu Thai, which took office last year, has made marriage equality one of its main goals."

-via AP News, March 27, 2024

[longreads]

She wanted to go to the mountains of India, but not in order to mimic the trope she’d seen in movies: Woman retreats into nature and discovers herself. Rather, the trip would be one last chance to escape the weight of having to hide her identity.

How long would you wait for love? For two queer women—one from India, the other from Nepal—the answer was: as long as it takes.

Visit Longreads to read “Love Wins,” an excerpt from the new issue of The Atavist Magazine.

[allthegeopolitics]

Honey Maharjan and Mouni Maharjan are both rallying for a role in parliament. Both Honey and Mouni, who are not related despite sharing the same surname, are in the running for the local by-elections in the country.  Although Nepal is hailed for having some of the most progressive LGBTQ+ rights in South Asia, there has not been an out LGBTQ+ member to hold public office since 2008. 

Continue Reading.

[celluloidrainbow]

सुनगाभा | SOONGAVA (2012) dir. Subarna Thapa Independent and strong-willed Diya, now 22 years of age, is training to be a traditional Nepalese dancer. She forms a deep escalating friendship with another dance pupil, Kiran. Her feelings clearly border on physical desire, and she is desolate when her parents find a suitable man for her to marry. Meanwhile, her closeness to Kiran becomes passionate and they become lovers. Diya breaks off her engagement. The two young women decide to live together, but the open avowal of their relationship exposes them to ridicule and alienation. (link in title)

[not-your-asian-fantasy]

From The Juggernaut: 🏳️‍🌈On November 29, #Nepal became the first #SouthAsian country to register a same-sex marriage.

“Finally, we are completely together. Finally, we are completely each other’s,” Maya Gurung, 37, told The Guardian.

“We did it. We can have a beautiful future now,” Surendra Pandey, 27, told The Guardian.

In 2007, Nepal’s courts directed the government to amend laws to allow same-sex marriages, but legislators failed to bring any such amendments to Parliament. In June, Nepal’s Supreme Court issued an interim order that recognized the registry of same-sex marriages since legislators had failed to amend marriage laws.

Gurung and Pandey were married in a Hindu wedding in 2017. Gurung was born a man and identifies as a trans woman; Pandey was born a man and identifies as a man. But Nepal prohibits citizens from changing the sex assigned at birth on official documents, so the couple couldn’t open a joint bank account, buy property together, or adopt a child together.

After the Supreme Court’s interim order, the couple tried to register at the Kathmandu District Court and High Court. But they still faced pushback — until Gurung's hometown, Dordi municipality, a few miles west of #Kathmandu, stepped in and agreed to register the couple.

Nepal is the second country in Asia, after Taiwan, to recognize same-sex marriage. India’s Supreme Court refused to legalize same-sex marriage earlier this year.

“We will continue our campaign for same-sex marriage and fight to bring equality to sexual minorities in the country, so that generations of people will not have to suffer like we all did,” Gurung told reporters Friday, AP reported.

Sunil Babu Pant, a former legislator and LGBTQ+ rights activist, told AP: “It is just not same-sex marriage, but it is very inclusive…man can marry man, woman can marry woman. As we have three genders — male, female and others — others can marry others also and others can marry man [or woman].”

Read more about how India is still fighting for LGBTQ rights at the link in bio, then click this image 🔗

[brightgreendandelions]

Feature request on the flagmaker:

Nepal

yes.

but the question is, how do we generalize it to use anywhere from 3 to 8 colors? and in which order do we place them, even if there are only 3?

[humanrightsconnected]

As we continue to celebrate Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈🌈, we spotlight 6 LGBTQ+ rights wins around the 🌍 in 2023 👇:

❤️ Nepal’s Supreme Court rules that the government must recognize the same-sex foreign spouse of a Nepali citizen.

🧡 Taiwan grants adoption rights for same-sex couples.  

💛 The Supreme Court of Namibia recognizes same-sex marriages performed abroad between Namibian citizens and foreign spouses. 

💚 Latvia's parliament elects foreign minister Edgars Rinkēvičs as the country's new president, making him the first openly gay head of state in the European Union.

💙 In the US, Governor Wes Moore declares Maryland a sanctuary for gender-affirming health care by signing an executive order. 

💜 Iceland bans conversion therapy. 

📸 by Norbu Gyachung on Unsplash

[kutyozh]

[ID:

Nepal becomes first South Asian country to allow same-sex marriage

Nepal's top court has ordered the legal registration of same-sex marriages, a first step towards marriage equality for LGBTQ+ people in conservative South Asia.

Issued on: 09/07/2023 - 12:30

below is a photo of various South Asian people walking under a big rainbow flag. Their expressions are happy and excited. The text continues below the picture:

Supreme Court judge Til Prasad Shrestha ruled marriages of same-sex and non-traditional couples must be registered as "temporary" until lawmakers come up with a new legal framework to uphold such unions permanently.

In an interim ruling on 28 June, the judge ordered Nepal's government to set up a separate register of marriages for same-sex couples, who lawyers say will have the same rights as heterosexual partners. /end ID]

Source

[dandylion-s]

Congratulations to my Nepali homies 🎉

[laranjafox]

• Meera The Tales of Life (2022) [+16] [np] [47min] #sapphicfox

[comments; no spoiler]

If you like to watch movies from different countries and/or from independent producers I recommend watching this one. Is it extraordinary? No, but for me the narrative mode is unusual, the story is told through a collection of moments, it's not a continuous storyline, there are a few dialogs, no narrator nor connection elements, it's like blocks of events.

[light spoiler]

I really liked the subtletly of how they portrayed the interest, the looks, the flirting and the passion during Meera's stay at the resort. I've got to say that I didn't expect to the actresses to have much skinship, much less that they'd kiss, even less that it'd have a bed scene, after the kiss I didn't get shocked anymore lol I'm like that because I watched productions from Myanmar, that is in the near region, and the stories were tragic and there was no skinship, just the fact of being gay (they were acquillean stories), so I was expecting something in the same vibe given that Nepal is a smaller country, I dunno, random concepts my mind created lol

[spoiler]

Well, enjoyed watching the movie, but it left me with questions, did Meera divorce Amar (not sure if that's the husband's name)? She got pregnant by her husband or she adopted a child? Why Anshu doesn't show up in the present? For this, I remembered the first scene where Meera was talking to the child about the pink ball, it was blurred but there was three adults, so... the husband welcomed Anshu? He thought of her as a solution to the pregnancy problem, like she'd make Meera happier and then *pop* a baby? Or he's totally okay about it? I wanted to know that. Also, when Amar argued with Meera about something, that she didn't respect him, what was that about? At first I thought she was breaking up with him, then I thought he found out about her affair, then I wondered if it was because Meera was sheltering Anshu at their home, oh speaking of that I found pretty sensitive the portrait of a rape case, given that there's an expressive data about that involving queer women, an aspect that only other feminine person comprehends well.

A movie by Anita Pandit.

[gay-impressionist]

Nepal : legalized same-sex marriage

New queer rights around the world : 2023 edition 🏳️‍🌈✨️🏳️‍⚧️

Finland : adopted a law to facilitate transition, no longer requiring sterilization or psychological evaluations

[bl-bracket]

Mini-Bracket: Best Marriage Proposal in a QL

So, as many of y'all may have heard, as of June 18, 2024 the marriage equality bill just got passed in Thailand, making it the first Southeast Asian country to legalize same sex marriage and also only one of three countries in all of Asia to legalize it (Taiwan legalized it 2019 and Nepal legalized it in 2024 as well). While technically it won't fully go into effect for another 120 days, I've planning to do something to celebrate it for a while so with great pleasure I introduce the first mini-bracket: Best Marriage Proposal in a QL!!!

What's a mini-bracket? Well since we are currently still in the Most Unhinged Bracket (currently in the finals and about halfway through the loser bracket) and I have a planned hiatus coming up due to traveling, what it really means is that there will be a shorter submission time, no prelims, all one-day long polls, and will be running at the same time as everything else. This is just supposed to be a little fun thing to celebrate marriage equality!

Same base rules apply (which you can read in the form and in the pinned post) EXCEPT this time I'm going to open it up to all QLs! While GLs are still in the early stages of becoming an established industry compared to BLs (and thus it still feels kinda unfair to them if I were to say that that the brackets were for all qls but would still be like 90% bl at least), it didn't feel right to not include them in this one!

Also there's some extra rules this time!

For the purposes of this poll, the proposal MUST be for a queer couple (mlm or wlw)

While this is to celebrate gay marriage being legalized in Thailand, any East Asian live action bl is eligible

It must be a legitimate marriage proposal, not just an offhand comment about wanting to get married in the future or making some other type of serious commitment as a couple that isn't marriage (like moving in together). Those are all good, but not what I'm wanting to highlight here. 

Submissions Close on June, 22 @ 7 PM GMT

Submit your favorite marriage proposals in a QL Here!

@tournament-announcer

[nobbin0]

CIJ: Nepal's queer Dalits face double discrimination

Though Chadani says her surname is Yadav, she actually belongs to the Madhesi Dalit Mahara community. After she struggled to make a living, she changed her surname and began to work as a dancer at weddings and dancer bars. “We have to change our surname to get work,” she says. Chadani was born a male. It was only five years ago that she came out. Then she had to face abuse from her family and the society. She had to move to Janakpur from Mahottari. “They began to call me names like chhakka, hijra and mauga [derogatory terms used to refer to nonbinary individuals] and forced me out of the village,” she said. Chadani, who has studied up to grade 12, didn’t get a job in Janakpur either. While some hoteliers were ready to give her a job despite knowing she was identified as nonbinary, they fired her upon knowing that she was also a Dalit. She had to face more caste discrimination in the city than in her village.

Continue reading

A lesbian in a FGD expressed that “we usually aren’t given work because people think that we could influence people to become like us and could deform society”. Similarly, a Dalit gay person noted: “As a Dalit, it is very difficult for me to go anywhere and even rent a room. After people find out that I am a Dalit LGBTIQ+ man, I am not given a job”. Caste-based experiences of violence were discussed by another participant who suggested: “I believe the violence is escalated by caste and ethnicity. High caste people try to dominate lower caste people”.

pg. 51

[firesidefantasy]

What's up! STS! Woah! My question to yooou is. Are there any flashy magical items in your story, and if so, please tell me all about them. If not, tell me how your characters would react to Finding a flashy magical item :)?

so the thing about the casparverse is that it is entierly contemporary queer romance and is not magical or fantasy based at all. except i can't really live like that. so there is now the magic verse (my side bitch) that runs alongside the mortal verse and interacts with that verse, but nobody in the mortal verse knows that the magic verse exists.

this means that i can have my cyclopse baby character and she can meet my normal human characters, but they don't know that she's a cyclopse. so my queer romance stories stay in tact.

sometimes the magic verse creeps into the mortal verse, though. and my favourite element of that is Normie's 24/7 Diner.

when cas and luca are having a bad night, they always go to the same diner. normie's. and it's always there. if they were on holiday in the middle of nepal, they would still find normie's diner, and somehow it would be the exact same one. normie's diner is always there for those who need it. it always serves the biggest, best strawberry milkshakes. and it's always open, no matter the time of day or night.

it also can't be found by people who don't need it. which means that when caspar's boyfriend goes looking for him, and caspar doesn't want to be found, normie's diner no longer exists.

obviously normie's is magically ran. but caspar and luca are mortal verse characters, so they will never know that :) except maybe in an au i write one day, because i think caspar would make such a wicked water wizard, and luca would probably manage to find the origins of magic in about a week (even though no wizard nor immortal since the beginning of time has managed such a feat).

i'm not sure a diner counts as a magical item but it does now.

thanks for asking :D