My time in Nepal will be spent volunteering with the organization, Blue Diamond Society (BDS). This is Nepal’s first and largest LGBTI organization and the same organization that I had an interview with last quarter. If you are a member of the LGBTQI+ community and are one of the students traveling to Nepal, I highly recommend contacting the Blue Diamond Society if you have any questions regarding safety or if you’re simply curious about the community there. 

The Blue Diamond Society has 30+ offices spread across Nepal with the main headquarters being in Kathmandu. They are known worldwide for their activism and contributions including:

  • Nepal’s first LGBTI sporting event.  In 2012, an event called Nepal’s gay Olympics raised LGBTI awareness and brought the community together through games of football, volleyball, and many other events. BDS consistently uses events such as these to raise public awareness of the community in a way that strengthens the LGBTI community in an accessible way.
  • Starting the petition for Facebook to include a gender neutral option for gender.  The first openly gay politician of Nepal and founder of the Blue Diamond Society, Sunil Babu Pant, created this petition to create an inclusive space for gender variant people around the world to socialize online while identifying as their true selves.
  • Convincing the Nepali Supreme Court  to legalize same-sex marriage and create a legal third gender. In 2007, the Blue Diamond Society was responsible for the legalization of same-sex marriage and acknowledgement of transgender identities on legal documents, along with establishing protections for those in the LGBTQI community. While these protections are not frequently enforced, BDS continues advocating for the community, fighting for more rights, and raising awareness of the established rights.
  • Creating the first LGBTQI pride festival in Nepal. Now an annual tradition, Kathmandu hosts a pride festival as shown in the video below hosted by the Blue Diamond Society.

 

 

I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to work with them, as only two other people have volunteered with them through Volunteer Nepal. Their website contains basic information about their mission and programs and I suggest searching the Blue Diamond Society on Google and scholarly source journals for more detailed articles regarding their work.