In the summer of 2001 I flew out to San Fran to begin a cross-country bike trip with what were then twenty strangers. Spending 24 hours a day together, sharing meals, and participating in excrutiating and envigorating physical activity quickly turned twenty strangers into twenty best friends. A recent article from 365gay.com reminded me of a conversation that occured on that trip.

At the end of a long day, I was sitting around with Ram, a rider from Nepal who had traveled to the US solely for this ride (I should mention that the ride was to raise awareness about anti-racism). Before we had even left San Fran I had come out as Queer to the other riders. I knew there was no point hiding it (not that I ever care to) so I figured I’d throw it our there and let it settled with those that were bound to be uncomfortable with it. Anyway, so Ram, a happy-go-lucky, loving-life, leader of the youth rebellion in Nepal, and I were talking about sexuality and why I identified as Queer. It was then that he says to me, “We don’t have any gay people in Nepal.”

“Really?” I questioned. “Because I have a good friend from Nepal who identifies as a lesbian.” Although my friend identified as Queer before coming to the US to attend college, Ram was convinced that the land of plenty had turned her into a lesbian. And regardless, she was no longer in Nepal. Apparently she was the only Queer person in Nepal. Good thing she left, eh?

I pick up the newspaper and what do I see? Nepal accused of ’sexual cleansing’. The article went on to explain that police and members of the Royal Nepalese Army continually harass, beat, arrest, and threaten metis [trans wimmin] and lesbians. A recent incident involved four police officers and a group of metis. A police officer shouted, “Metis! Kill them!” They then beat one woman with a baton, threatened another with a gun pointed at her head, and severely beat two others. They told the wimmin, “These [transsexuals] pollute the society and must be cleansed out.”

While the story did not give any concrete example of “sexual cleansing” (no stories of murder were reported), it does point out one thing - there are Queer people in Nepal. In fact, they have their own civil rights organization call the Blue Diamond Society, which is often attacked by police and military. Just because no murders were reported does not mean they don’t happen or won’t happen. Especially if folks like Ram, a very conscious community organizer and youth leader, continue to turn a blind eye to the struggle of Queer people in their own communities. As long as Queer people remain invisible, so will their deaths. Lets hope it doesn’t take a Brandon Teena or Matthew Shephard to wake up the nation. Because we know that when the murder of one Queer male happens to make it into the media, there were countless wimmin who had been tortured and murdered without notice.
[tags]sexuality, transgender, Nepal, oppression, feminism, transphobia[/tags]