Mountain climbers contemplating Everest and sex enthusiasts share a motivation for straddling something big: Because it’s there. Gay people should think twice, however, before planning a trip to Nepal. The Himalayan nation is a cesspool of homophobia. Given that homosexuality is inborn, outlawing it seems beyond ridiculous, yet that’s just what Nepal has done. The backwardness knows no end; in 2004, a gay rights demonstration in front of Singha Durbar, the parliament building, ended with police severely beating the peaceful demonstrators. Then last month, a transgendered woman was beaten and held in a cell for 24 hours after refusing to make whoopee with a police officer.

Now, queers in Nepal have $25,000 worth of hope, thanks to the economic intervention of Reginald Kenneth Dwight, aka Sir Elton John. He donated the money to The Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s only gay rights organization, headed by Sunil Pant. If you wish to follow in the Sir’s generous pink suede footprints, you may go here for Blue Diamond Society contact information.