As recently as 2007, Nepal classified homosexuality as a crime, punishable by up to two years in prison. Gays and lesbians were harassed and beaten by police, and denounced by Maoist rebels as “a product of capitalism”. Three years on, this Himalayan nation is not only about to become the first in Asia to allow same-sex marriages: it is promoting gay weddings on Everest in an attempt to become the continent’s top gay tourism destination.
“We’re completely changing this country. It’s a newborn republic — and we want to showcase this change,” Sharat Singh Bhandari, the Tourism Minister, told The Times. “We also want to re-establish tourism as a major industry.” He aims to attract one million tourists in 2011, more than double the number last year.
He kicked off the marketing campaign in October with a written message to the International Conference on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Boston — an unprecedented gesture for an Asian minister. “As the world knows, Nepal is the land of Mount Everest, world’s highest peak and the birth place of Lord Buddha, light of Asia,” the message said. “I, therefore, would like to take this opportunity to invite and welcome all the sexual and gender minorities from around the world.”
Nepal is also due to host the first Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Kathmandu in June. This sudden turnaround highlights the extraordinary change that has swept the country since a democratic uprising forced King Gyanendra to renounce absolute power in 2006 and the Maoists won power and abolished the world’s last Hindu monarchy two years later. The new republic is still unstable, with the Maoists and their rival parties unlikely to agree on a new constitution — supposed to guarantee gay rights — by a deadline of May 28.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 103267.ece
Brokeback mountian gets bigger!
Brokeback mountian gets bigger!
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Brokeback mountian gets bigger!
Well, good on Nepal. Better late than never. Now if only the US could catch up ....
Reason is valuable only when it performs against the wordless physical background of the universe.
Re: Brokeback mountian gets bigger!
Is it just me, or do the words 'Symposium on Gay and Lesbian Tourism' and 'Nepal is due to host' just not seem to really fit together, no matter what order you put them in?Nepal is also due to host the first Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Kathmandu
Bah!
