Nepal gives formal recognition to third gender

[Saorsa]

Nepal gives formal recognition to third gender
18 Sep 2008, 1748 hrs IST,IANS
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KATHMANDU: A 21-year-old lesbian has become the first person in Nepal to be officially recognised as a third gender person under the Maoist-led new government, a move being hailed as a landmark for sexual minorities in a country still dominated by a strong feudal society.

Bishnu Adhikari, who was forced to leave her home in Pokhara town by outraged relatives and neighbours, on Wednesday became the first person in Nepal to be given an official identity card that described her sex as "third gender" instead of the usual male and female categories.

She was issued an official ID that gave her gender as "Third".

Naulo Bihani (New Dawn), a Nepali NGO that works for the rights of gays and lesbians in Kaski district in central Nepal, said Adhikari had applied for citizenship at the Kaski district administration office asking for an ID that would identify her as third gender.

Adhikari, a human rights officer employed by the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), the pioneer organisation in Nepal to champion the cause of gays and lesbians, was inspired to ask for a third gender ID after Nepal's first publicly gay lawmaker Sunil Babu Pant visited Pokhara about 10 days ago.

During his visit, Pant, who is also the founder of the BDS, gave a public speech discussing the constitutional rights of third genders and encouraging them to demand a citizenship certificate that truly identified them.

The MP, who was nominated to the newly elected constituent assembly by a minor communist party that is a partner in the ruling coalition, said it would also be a test of the interim constitution promulgated after the pro-democracy movement of 2006 that ensured equality for every citizen.

Adhikari had a tough fight acquiring the ID she wanted.

Krishna Adhikari, regional coordinator at Naulo Bihani, said the officials first rejected her demand saying she looked exactly like a man and therefore should be issued an ID that described her as male.

However, after she consistently refused to accept it, saying that in view of the new changes that had electrified Nepal her request should also be heard, the officials went into a huddle among themselves and then finally relented.

Adhikari's fight was made easier by the Supreme Court of Nepal that in a landmark judgement last year said gays were "natural" people. It directed the government to remove all discrimination against the community and ensure for them the rights enjoyed by all other citizens.

Last year, Chanda Musalman, a gay man who became a transgender, dressing as a woman, wrested partial recognition for her community when she was given an ID that described her gender as "both male and female".

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/Nepal_gives_formal_recognition_to_third_gender/articleshow/3499613.cms

But... but... I thought Maoists saw gays as a capitalist pollutant! :ohmy:

[Incendiarism]

Excellent, but the fact that they assign them to a third gender or as both male and female seems really iffy to me. Nonetheless, progressive step.

[Saorsa]

Excellent, but the fact that they assign them to a third gender or as both male and female seems really iffy to me

Gay people aren't automatically labelled as Third Gender, you only recieve this if you request it.

[bcbm]

Gay people aren't automatically labelled as Third Gender, you only recieve this if you request it.

I'm not sure that was the point being raised. I read it as the idea of a trans person being "both" or just simply a "third" gender still plays into gender politics and does not actually challenge them.

[Panda Tse Tung]

s/he requested to be labelled 'third gender'. If someone requists so then fine. The article also mentioned other major steps in advancing gay rights in Nepal.

[Abluegreen7]

I think Gay rights should be a big thing in Prachandas Agenda.

[spartan]

Wait a minute how is being a gay female make you a "third gender"?

I thought only trans-gender people had the whole "third gender" option?

Why can't she just be known as a woman and if her sexuality is required (what for I can't imagine) then she can identify as a lesbian?

I know that she requested it and that this is a very progressive step for Nepal (when you consider the Feudal society it still largely is), but it still seems like they want to single them (gay people) out as somehow seperate from the "rest of us" as it were (hence the "neither male or female, just gay" third gender option).

I am not kicking up a stink or criticisng this move, I am just dumbfounded as to why gay people have to be a identified officially as a "third gender"?

She's a woman who just happens to be gay for fuck's sake!

Anyway perhaps I am coming at this from too much of a first world perspective (I can't imagine how different things are over there compared to what we consider normal here).

Still a good move though and hopefully a sign of further good and progressive things to come in Nepal.

[Hiero]

I'm not sure that was the point being raised. I read it as the idea of a trans person being "both" or just simply a "third" gender still plays into gender politics and does not actually challenge them.

The third gender does seem a wierd classification, because this women may still identify as a women, not as another gender. Her sexuality is the question.

Now of course this does not challenge the rigid concept of gender. At this time in the whole world we are a far way from living in a society of fluid gender and sexuality.

Regardless of the weirdness, which is really a tad arrogant since we are judging a third world nation which only recently banned a form of slavery on basically 1st world acadamic ideas. We criticise Nepal based on a really PC view of the world built in the safety of universities. Even if working class people have these ideas, their basis is in post structural theories created in the university.

Personally I think this is a progressive step. I think first before we have a truely non-discriminatory society, we have to strengthen representation of oppressed peoples. It is probally a radical step for Nepal to even acknowledge that homosexual people do and can exist in Nepal society. And this is the first step. Like in western society, alliance of many people have fought for representation of oppressed minorities, such schemes to get more indigenous people into universities for example.

The goal is to strengthen oppressed minorities through institutional representation, only for these benifits to be negated through economic equality, such as socialism. Through strengthen some things, they reach a certian point when they become obsolete and fade away. At least that is the Leninist philosophy (State and Revolution). By mainstream Nepal acknowledging that there is at least another sexual and gender life outside of straight male or straight female, is building the steps to a society where these classifications fade away as the boungarios begin to blur in an eqaul society. The important thing is it will open up discussion about Nepal's destiny, where "other" genders and sexualities play a role in building this destiny.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

A recap of Nepal this past year shows stunning progress: the establishment of homosexual and transgendered rights, legal abortion access, multi-party democracy, women acquiring independence from their male family members. :)

[Saorsa]

Naulo Bihani (New Dawn), a Nepali NGO that works for the rights of gays and lesbians in Kaski district in central Nepal, said Adhikari had applied for citizenship at the Kaski district administration office asking for an ID that would identify her as third gender.

As others have pointed out, the woman specifically requested to be "Third Gender". I say if that's what she wants, then good on the Maoists for giving it to her.


A recap of Nepal this past year shows stunning progress: the establishment of homosexual and transgendered rights, legal abortion access, multi-party democracy, women acquiring independence from their male family members. http://www.revleft.com/vb/../revleft/smilies/001_smile.gif

Nepal is a fucking exciting place to watch, if things keep going this way over the next year or two I'd be keen on trying to arrange a trip over there. There's still land reform, industrialisation and the setting up of democratic structures that serve the interests of workers and peasants to come!

[BobKKKindle$]

This is an incredible step forward, especially when we consider that homophobic ideas are prevalent in South Asia and homosexuals are often unable to talk about the problems they face due to fears of a violent reaction from religious conservatives. This shows that the CPN(M) has a genuine commitment to social reform and aims to overturn the oppression of sexual minorities.

[reddevil]

a much needed step forward. it would appear that many of our comrades outside the west are still uneasy with the idea of our movement embracing gay rights, seeing it as a "western capitalist import" or some other disease. we need to spread the message that sexual opression goes hand in hand with economic opression.