If selected, of which Pun is highly hopeful, the founder president of ´Inclusive Forum Nepal´ would be contesting under proportional representation which had once disowned him for behaving like a boy despite being a girl.[break]
Then there is Laxmi Ghalan, president of an organization of lesbians called Mitini Nepal, who is waiting for a green signal from Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) to anoint her a candidate to contest from Makwanpur district. Like Pun, Ghalan hopes to secure a seat under proportional representation for gender minority.
As he began to deeply realize that he feels like a male from inside despite having a body of a female, Pun had gone public about it at the age of 16. The revelation fetched him cruelest behavior from young and old alike in his village in Myagdi. His good record as a volleyball player, a good dancer and, above all, a social charmer was no more appreciated. Family began to look for a guy to marry her off while on the other hand he would feel attracted toward girls.
“That happened to me. And that´s why I know the pain of being a transgender. But how many of the people in our society or in our country believe this?” Pun goes emotional. “In order to make people realize that the people like us really exist and we too have all the rights to live and be happy, we need to have our space in the decision-making level. The social stigma toward us is our strength,” Pun said.
Ghalan adds even though representation of gender minority was there in the last the Constituent Assembly (CA), it was not enough as there were no females representing the group. The then president of Blue Diomond Society (Nepal´s first organization of gender minorities) Sunil Babu Pant had got a seat under proportional representation in the last CA.
“First of all we fall under the category of minorities who are extremely neglected. Besides, we have several groups under the category and levels of discrimination based on those. Even among gender minority, females are facing biggest challenges,” Ghalan stated. “So, in order to bring out the issues and address them, it is very important to have more than one and gender-balanced representation,” she added.
While Pun has been active in politics since very young age, Ghalan has just entered the fray. “I no nothing about politics. However, I think I should try to contest as it is very important to make it to the decision-making level if we want changes,” Ghalan stressed. She is hopeful of a successful political career as she is very close to the chairman of the party Surya Bahadur Thapa.
There is no dearth of people from gender minority trying to make it to the CA through Nepali Congress either. Male-to-female transgender Bhumika Shrestha is busy lobbying for her better influence as she hopes to contest from Kathmandu district area no 4.
“I hope the party will back me up. It is very important for the people from gender minorities to make it to the CA so that our issues are well addressed,” she said.
Though the Nepalese society has not stopped being scornful towards gender minorities, there has been significant changes in favor of this group in legal terms. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that citizens were entitled to select their gender identity based on what they feel about their ´sexual orientation.´
But as the people did not like to be called ´third gender´ anyway, after much lobby, the Home Ministry decided to provide them citizenship under the ´others´ category on March 2012. These people are hopeful that same-sex marriage would be legalized after the new CA is formed.
VOX POP -
Manish Thapa, a transgender
I am a female-to-male transgender. I have no good feeling toward politics. It is all power game and only dishonest people can fare well in it. However, in order to be heard, you have to have some space in politics. So, as a member of LGBT community, I fully support the people of my community who are trying win a CA seat. Others might have different targets and goals in life. But for the people like us, trying to establish our identity itself takes much effort. We don´t want anything, but just let us live as we are. But the society hardly lets us do so. I wish our issues be addressed well in the new CA.
Teju Adhikari, a lesbian
What I do not understand is why anyone tries to guess about the other. Every individual is different and they have their own psychology. You cannot understand what I feel while I may not be able to realize what you feel. But our society is used to generalizing. It gives its own verdict without getting to the roots of anything. I am very happy and more people from our community are becoming active in politics. In the days to come, things will be much better for us, I hope. I urge everyone not to discriminate anyone on the basis of sexual orientation. Everyone´s rights to live with dignity have to be ensured. So I support and actively lobby for our people who are going to contest in the election.
Dev Gurung, a transgender
We face too much difficulty in life as we are not well accepted by the society. As we are stigmatized, we are backward in various terms. We are low achievers in terms of education, health, employment opportunity. We cannot live freely when we choose to marry as per our choice. I hope that the new CA would definitely legalize same-sex marriage and also ensure all our rights. Currently, we are deprived of even fundamental rights due to massive discrimination.
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