{"id":91,"date":"2026-09-16T10:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/?p=91"},"modified":"2026-09-16T10:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T10:35:09","slug":"why-have-sexual-and-gender-minority-issues-not-been-raised-in-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/?p=91","title":{"rendered":"Why Have Sexual and Gender Minority Issues Not Been Raised in Parliament ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu :<\/strong> Political activists from Nepal\u2019s sexual and gender minority (GSM) community have begun approaching political parties, seeking opportunities to contest the upcoming elections as candidates.<\/p>\n

Activists affiliated with the National Federation of Sexual and Gender Minorities have been visiting party offices at the local, district, provincial and central levels, demanding greater political representation and opportunities to contest elections.<\/p>\n

Political activists Pranil Chhetri and Jarim Thada Rai recently visited the central office of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), where they called for GSM community members to be nominated as candidates in local elections. They also raised their concerns and recommendations through the party\u2019s \u201cHami Sunchhau\u201d (We Listen) campaign.<\/p>\n

RSP MP Ashish Gajurel and Dr. Anand Bahadur Chand facilitated the interaction. The activists also urged Gajurel to support greater political participation and opportunities for GSM candidates.<\/p>\n

Chhetri said GSM activists have joined the RSP and have been actively working for the party. \u201cWe joined the party without personal interests to advance the political rights of our community and have been engaged in voluntary social service,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should not be denied the opportunity to contest elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

The activists said party membership and participation in party activities alone are not enough. They argued that meaningful representation must also include opportunities to contest elections and participate in decision-making.<\/p>\n

They also expressed dissatisfaction that issues concerning sexual and gender minorities have not been raised sufficiently in Parliament. Although the RSP has representation from the community, they said its concerns have not received adequate parliamentary attention.<\/p>\n

Chhetri said he raised the issue with Gajurel, questioning why community concerns had not been sufficiently discussed in Parliament. \u201cWe have not heard much on these issues. There is a need to speak more, and we have come here with the issues of our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The RSP has nominated Bhumika Shrestha as a proportional representative under the women\u2019s quota for Indigenous Nationalities. Shrestha, a transgender woman, recently objected to the use of the term \u201cthird gender\u201d during a meeting of the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee, prompting renewed debate within the community over terminology and representation.<\/p>\n

Chhetri said the growing participation of GSM people in political parties should not simply reproduce past political practices. He stressed the need for meaningful participation, accountability and representation rather than political positions alone.<\/p>\n

He also argued that the expansion of political parties and power centers would have little meaning unless the rights and concerns of the community were addressed.<\/p>\n

Political activist Jarim Thada Rai raised difficulties faced by gender and sexual minorities in obtaining citizenship according to their gender identity. She called for an end to the need to approach courts merely to obtain identity-based citizenship and said the current difficulties add to the community\u2019s hardships.<\/p>\n

RSP MP Ashish Gajurel said the party had sought representation of the community in Parliament after recognizing such concerns. He also pointed to the government ministry\u2019s inclusion of gender and sexual minorities in its official name.<\/p>\n

Activists said political representation and the effective raising of community issues in Parliament are two different matters.<\/p>\n

Political activists affiliated with the National Federation of Sexual and Gender Minorities have also approached the Nepal Communist Party\u2019s Makwanpur district office, demanding inclusive representation. Activists including Sandhya Lama said they briefed party officials about the needs and concerns of the GSM community.<\/p>\n

They urged political parties to ensure GSM participation and make their structures more inclusive. Their demands across local, district, provincial and central party offices center on political participation, electoral candidacy, inclusive representation, identity-based citizenship and stronger parliamentary advocacy on community issues.<\/p>\n

Although the number of GSM community members joining political parties is increasing, activists say this participation must translate into direct representation in decision-making bodies and elected positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu : Political activists from Nepal\u2019s sexual and gender minority (GSM) community have begun approaching political parties, seeking opportunities to contest the upcoming elections as candidates. Activists affiliated with the National Federation of Sexual and Gender Minorities have been visiting party offices at the local, district, provincial and central levels, demanding greater political representation and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SAVE_20260818_082708.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.samatakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}