Nepal's Blue Diamond Society has called for the United Nations to admonish Iran for last week's anti-gay raid. Malaysia Sun elaborates:

[BDS] sent an appeal to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, asking for his intervention to secure the freedom of 80 men arrested by Iranian security forces in Isfahan eight days ago.

Expressing deep concern at the crackdown in the conservative Islamic country, BDS said it had received information that the detainees had been severely tortured in Isfahan jail and were in a bad state. "Their lives are in danger...We ask your timely intervention to secure their early release."

Blue Diamond Sociey's a natural ally for gay Iranians, who face very public, increasingly brutal state-sponsored attacks. BDS remains Nepal's singular gay rights organization and has repeatedly come up against the country's Maoist government, which has a less than sparkling gay rights record.

It's not all doom and gloom over in Nepal, however. The country celebrated its first gay beauty contest last night. Zee News reports that 18 cruised the catwalk last night to take win for the Pink Pageants' top slot. We wonder if the contestants dropped into Nepal's first and only openly gay-owned business, The Cutey Beauty Salon.

Call it history. Call it a stereotype. Call it whatever you want, but be sure to call The Cutey Beauty Salon next time you're in Kathmandu. Funded London's Sigrid Rausing Trust and the Norwegian National Association of Lesbian and Gay Liberation, CBS counts itself as Nepal's first openly gay owned business. Certainly an accomplishment in a country where gays still find themselves on the receiving end of Maoist-initiated "social cleansings". Nepal's only gay activist group, The Blue Diamond Society, has also offered its support to the queer venture.

Speaking to reporters at the salon's opening, The Society's Sunil Pant remarked:

Up to now, nothing has been done to support transgenders and the sexual minorities, who are the most marginalised, poor and socially excluded in Nepal... The salon is an opportunity for them to lead self-supporting and dignified lives so that they can make a living and contribute to the larger society.

And look good doing so, to boot.

Trans-genders open a beauty salon in the capital [Nepal Horizons]
Gay beauty salon opens in Kathmandu [Pink News UK]

The Maoist "sociall cleansing" continues over in Nepal. The oppressive cadres allegedly arrested 16-year old Dukhani Choudhary and 20-year old Sarita Choudhury after finding out they were lesbians. The girls went missing for a month, but they reappeared last week to tell members of Blue Diamond Society - Nepal's only gay rights organization - that they had been interrogated and then integrated into the Maoist cadres to lead a "straight life". Hearing of the incident, Maoist women's leader Hisila Yami insisted, "We don't punish homosexuals but we also don't encourage homosexual behaviour." Not very reassuring, especially considering Maoist leader Dev Gurung when he says homos didn't exist during Communism, but have emerged since the revolution:

Now they are moving towards capitalism, homosexuals may have arisen there as well. So homosexuality is a product of capitalism.

His thugs have repeatedly called for the sissie scourge to be purged.

In light of the girls' kidnapping, Blue Diamond Society has called for a two-day conference to discuss the state of the homo nation in Nepal. Perhaps there's another revolution around the corner? We doubt it, but we're dreamers...

Maoists jail women for lesbianism in Nepal [Times of India]

A few weeks back we reported on the plight of Nepal's hapless homos. Though they worked with Maoist revolutionaries to take down the despotic government, they've since found themselves on the receiving end of so-called "social cleansing". The nation's only pro-gay rights organization, The Blue Diamond Society, has been fighting the good fight alone. Until now.

January 8th marked a turning point in their battle against oppression. Gathering at the Malla Hotel for the “Nepal’s New Constitution and the Fundamental Rights of Minorities” conference, BDS and their allies lent their ears to the honorable Justice Edwin Cameron: South Africa's first openly gay judicial leader and a key player in implementing the African nation's same-sex nups.

Speaking to allies and enemies alike, Cameron lauded the importance of an inclusive, even-minded constitution: the key to implementing more national harmony. UK Gay News reports:

Justice Cameron came to the conference with a bundle of encouragement and optimism, insisting on the immutability of human and sexual diversity, and entreating his listeners to see that diversity as celebratory.

He contended that the admittance of gays and lesbians is the ultimate measure of a society’s capacity to view humanity in its fullness and of its commitment to equality, justice, secularism, and humane co-existence.

...A constitution, he argued, should surpass any sectarian or majoritarian interest, embrace difference in its conception of equality, and guarantee every individual the freedom, protection and resources to develop in his/her own unique manner.

Apparently Cameron's words struck such a persuasive chord that Nepal's Justice Laxmi Prasad Aryal - a man who has never come out to support LGBT rights - conceded that embracing the gays may be a good move for the country.

Of course, Aryal's but one man in a country where the Maoists have pledged to eradicate all "social pollutants", including the gays. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala simply pretends the problems don't exist. Sounds like the kids have their work cut out for them.

For more on Blue Diamond Society, click here.

Continuing their grand tradition of social cleansing, Nepal's Maoists have been issuing warnings to those who house known homosexuals. Appearing at their doors, Maoists insist that people who provide shelter to queers and other "social pollutants", such as drunks and adulterers, will pay for their tolerance.

With the November peace agreement, the anti-gay Communists seem to think they're working for the best of the country. Despite working with gays during the revolution against King Gyanendra - a man who made a hobby of killing gays - the rebels say that queers must be purged from Nepalese society, for their presence tarnishes the country's egalitarian image. Maoist leader Dev Gurung mused:

Under Soviet rule and when China was still very much a communist state, there were no homosexuals in the Soviet Union or China... Now they are moving towards capitalism, homosexuals may have arisen there as well. So homosexuality is a product of capitalism. Under socialism this kind of problem doesn't exist.

Wise words, indeed.

When asked to address the problem, deputy Prime Minister KP Oli said he's not prepared to discuss homosexuals. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, meanwhile, pulls a mother in denial and simply ignores calls for action. Ah, the sweet smell of progress bullshit.

• Anti-Homo Pol Behind in Polls. [Minnesota Star Tribune]

• Gay Murder Mystery Continues... [Life Style Extra]

• Activist to Nepal: 'Don't Forget The Gays'! [Pink News UK]

• Joan Rivers Wants Mel Gibson's Head. (No, not his penis.) [Star Magazine]

• HIV Treatment Database? [The Advocate ]

• Artist Paints Cheaper Pictures. [Daily Telegraph]

• New Govt. in Nepal Goes Back on Word, Rounding Up Gays. Fuck. [365 Gay]

• 500 Westminster Gay Couples Can't Be Wrong: Marriage Rocks! [Pink News UK]

• Celebrities spout senseless bullshit to brighten your weekend. [Tom's Grab Bag]

• Terry Richardson and his pervie ways draw more critics. [Adelaide Now]

• AIDS Activists in South Africa starve selves for change. [365 Gay]

• Wait? They thought the Cher performer was a woman? [Page One Q]

• In Alabama, Patricia Todd – set to become the state's first openly gay state legislator – was ousted (along with the woman she defeated in a runoff vote) for violating a financial disclosure rule no other candidate has obeyed since 1998. [AP]

• In Wisconsin, researcher Rob Carpick – responsible for bringing in millions of dollars in grant money – quits his position at the University of Wisconsin at Madison because it doesn't offer health insurance benefits for his partner. He's headed to the University of Pennsylvania. [Wisconsin State Journal]

• In Vermont, Carolyn Conrad and Kathleen Peterson – the nation's first gay couple to enter a civil union – have split.

• In Nepal, two men prepare to get married — in the country's first openly gay wedding. Meanwhile, homosexuality remains a crime, punishable by a year in prison and a fine. [Times of India]

• In Massachusetts, an inmate's fight to have the state pay for his sex change operation now rests in the hands of a federal judge. If the court rules in Robert Kosilek's favor, it will be the nation's first state-sponsored transgender operation in history. [AP]

Police in the city of Kathmandu, Nepal have been recently trying to "cleanse" the city of "undesirables" such as transexuals and gays by arresting them under false pretenses. Most recently, this week they arrested and detained several staff members of the Blue Diamond Society, a sexual rights advocacy organization. In case there is any doubt about the intentions of the police officers, let's savor this choice quote, " "Acid should be put on the faces of the [trangender people]: they don't deserve to live."

Before we start feeling all superior to Nepal, let's look at a couple interesting similarities that exist between it and our own country. The reason given for sweeping trannies off the street in Kathmandu is the same reason President Bush claims to have won the 2004 election: moral values.

And these recent violations of humans rights also remind us of another recent urban cleansing project that, while cruel, hopefully did not involve acid.

'Sexual Cleansing' Drive Continues [Human Rights Watch via Direland]
Blue Diamond Society [Official Site]

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.