Sunil Babu Pant recently made history as the first openly gay member of Nepal’s Parliament. Mr. Pant now represents the Communist Party United (CPN-(U)) which won five new seats in the election. According to Sunil, “Most members of the CPN-(U) have indicated their support for LGBT [lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender] rights, and it was very happy to send an openly gay man to parliament; there are also many good individuals in the parliament with whom we have worked in the past”. Sunil also said, "I will make sure the new constitution protects sexual groups, people with disabilities, small indigenous castes and others."

Sunil was only 35 years old when he helped usher in social change in Nepal with the founding of the Blue Diamond Society (BDS) in 2002. BDS has grown from its early grass roots days to a network of 20 groups and organisations in Nepal working on HIV, human rights and social justice for sexual gender minorities including men who have sex with men (MSM). BDS also runs a hospice for terminally ill MSM patients and provides training and jobs to members of the community. BDS now has HIV and human rights programmes in more than 20 cities and is continuing to expand rapidly.

Even today, Sunil and his colleagues at BDS carry out this work under the threat of arrest and imprisonment, with the security forces and militia cracking down on LGBT networks throughout the country. Coupled with a lack of legal protection and “traditional” beliefs in Nepal society, the environment for LGBT people and their defenders is volatile. Many of the BDS staff have been arrested and imprisoned in the past and transgender people often face extortion, blackmail, rape and other forms of violence.

In 2007 under Sunil’s leadership, BDS and three other groups filed a writ petition in Nepal's Supreme Court demanding the defense and protection of human rights of sexual and gender minorities through enactment of laws and state policies, and the abolition of all discriminatory laws and policies. In its ruling later in the year, the Court declared that sexual minorities were "natural persons" deserving of protection against discrimination and ordered the government to come up with legislation guaranteeing civil rights for homosexuals. The court also ordered that a government commission be established to study legalization of same-sex marriage, and to make official documents such as identification cards and passports include a third option for a person's gender. Since that court ruling, "Violence has been reduced against LGBT people, and many police have become much less brutal than before in treating us," said Sunil.

BDS was awarded the Utopia Award in 2005, and in 2007 was presented with the Felippa De Souza Award from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Both prizes applauded the organization's work on HIV and human rights in Nepal. In accepting the Felippa De Souza Award Sunil said, “We are the key voice that no one should suffer discrimination, be a victim of violence, be excluded from employment, education, housing, social services -- or from their family and home - because of sexual definition or HIV status…and to promote human rights for all Nepalese [which] includes eliminating the stark realities of violence and torture of LGBT people." He went on to add, “With our progress, however, is the awareness that so many more need to be served.”

Sunil Babu Pant is the Community Representative for South Asia on the Interim Governing Board for APCOM.