Rainy Nepal sees rainbows at Gay Pride Parade (News Feature)

By Pratibha Tuladhar Aug 25, 2010, 12:25 GMT

Kathmandu - The party at Durbar Marg, the King's Way area, was in full swing Wednesday as bands and people dancing in colourful attire lit up a gloomy monsoon afternoon.

Mounted on an elephant Nepal's first openly gay lawmaker, Sunil Babu Panta, led the Gay Pride crowd in a procession around the thoroughfares of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.

Sunil Babu Panta is president of the Blue Diamond Society in Nepal, which fights for the right of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. The society has been organizing pride parades for past nine years to raise awareness.

The event always coincides with the festival of Gai Jatra, the day when little children from Hindu communities, dressed as cows, walk around the city paying homage to the dead.

It is also a day for poking fun at social ills. Young men disguised as different characters make rounds of the city, mocking social follies.

Sunil Babu Panta says the day was chosen for the parade because it is one day in Nepalese history when transgenders have always left their closets to dress up without feeling shame.

This year's parade aims at ending all forms of discrimination, ending poverty and - promoting tourism.

'It's about promoting tourism, in line with the upcoming Tourism Year 2011, while also taking the unique festival to international level,' Panta said.

Local politicians were present, as was Nepal's first transgender politician, Bhumika Shrestha, marching down the street in a purple sari - the colour representing change.

'We have over 500 participants in today's rally,' said Bhumika. 'The Gai Jatra festival is a good day to have an event like this because while you also pray for our deceased third gender friends who died in discrimination, it's a day to open up in a conservative society like Nepal. They don't question you on a day like this.'

People representing different ethnic groups danced in the parade to traditional music, with foreigners, including British Ambassador John Tucknott and embassy staff, joining in.

'Nepal Pride is not just about LGBT people standing up for their rights,' said Tucknott. 'It's about all of us - straight or gay - supporting them in their quest for equality. It is about saying no to intolerance, no to prejudice, no to discrimination, and no to violence. It is about saying yes to embracing diversity.'

Onlookers left whatever they were doing to stand on the sidewalks, and watch the parade go by, leavubg one literary minded spectator reminded of 'men left down their work and came; women in petticoats coloured like flame,' as the Pied Piper walks through Hamelin in Seamus O'Sullivan's poem.

'It's cool,' said Ujjwal Shakya, 30, a shop owner in King's Way.

'You don't get to see something like this very often. It's a good thing that they're trying to make a point like this, where they can grab everyone's attention,' he said. 'Look, how everyone is looking so happy.'

'I've seen the gay pride parades for the past few years now,' says Sunil Tamrakar, who also a curio store in King's way . 'It's like freedom of expression.'

'I'm happy to see that they are able to come out like this and I hope they will get the support they deserve,' said Katey, a foreign NGO worker.

As the parade passed down the street, it went past the Jame Mosque near the Royal palace.

Mohamad Osama had stepped out of his Muslim community office in the mosque to watch the parade pass.

'It's a part of the Hindu tradition. I think it's okay if they are able to use that to impart a message.'

Ram Chandra and Kala, dressed up as women, sprinted to catch up with their friends as the procession proceeded.

Ram Chandra, from the minority indigenous Tharu community, said he had come all the way from Dhangadi in far-western Nepal to attend the parade.

'I'm very excited. It's a happy day for us,' said Kala with a wide grin as she held her friend's hand and marched quickly ahead.