Nepal opens its arms to vibrant hues of LGBTIQ community
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal has hosted its first international LGBTIQ tourism conference. Following the spectacular success of a legally recognized same-sex marriage in November, Nepal wants a piece of the multibillion-dollar pink market. "Forget about Nepal’s skewed past. We now aspire to create more just and equal societies." "Let the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or queer (LGBTIQ) have equal economic opportunities," urged Sunil Babu Pant, Asia’s first openly homosexual former politician, at a conference in Kathmandu. A few years ago, it was typical to see police beating gay and transgender people on the streets. "After over two decades of legal fights, the law and society have finally embraced the LGBTIQ community. We’re in the second phase, which requires equal economic opportunities." "For this, we need to attract LGBTIQ tourists worldwide," Pant said. The conference was announced following the successful marriage registration of Surendra Pandey and Maya Gurung, the first same-sex couple to be officially recognized in Nepal, on November 29, 2023, following years of legal battles. Their legally recognized same-sex marriage is the first of its type in South Asia and is a significant turning point for LGBTIQ rights. The decision of the court reads: "No one has the right to question how two adults perform sexual intercourse and whether this intercourse is natural or unnatural and that the way the right to privacy is secured to two heterosexual individuals in sexual intercourse, it is equally secured to the people of third gender who have a different gender identity and sexual orientation." In her presentation titled ‘LGBTI Tourism Global Overview and its Contribution to the Economy,’ Diane Anderson-Minshall, CEO and chief storyteller of GO Magazine, stated that LGBTIQ, or pink tourism, is a travel sector with a lot of wealth and spending power. She stated that "rainbow tourism" not only offers economic prosperity but also provides an opportunity to promote inclusiveness and empowerment within the LGBTIQ community. "By integrating them into the national economy, we create employment opportunities and contribute to the nation’s overall prosperity."