Nepal leads South Asia in gay rights

Even gay activists were floored by the scope of their victory. "If we ask for 1000%, maybe we'll get 10%" was the feeling when they filed their petition, Pant said. The ruling put Nepal way ahead of other South Asian nations in terms of official attitudes toward gays and lesbians. In neighboring India, for example, efforts to overturn a Victorian-era law penalizing homosexuality have been unsuccessful.

The court decision here paved the way for further successes. The Nepali Congress Party and also the party of the former Maoist rebels, whose leaders had in the past described gays and lesbians as social "pollutants," wrote support for gay rights into their platforms.

Violence by the security forces against sexual minorities has dropped, Pant said.

Pant now oversees an operation with more than 50 full-time staff members, funded entirely by donations and grants. Nepal has 10 registered groups catering to the gay community.

"But there's a lot of work [still] to be done," said Long of Human Rights Watch. With so many groups clamoring to be represented in the new constitution, he said, "it's going to be an enormous challenge to meet all those demands with a constitutional solution that actually provides for remedies against discrimination."

Pant has other headaches as well. A hospice his organization runs for AIDS patients in Katmandu has been evicted four times in 2 1/2 years and is seeking a new home. "We still face problems," Pant said. "But on the other hand, compared to other countries, it's quite remarkable that we've achieved so much in such a short time."

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henry.chu@latimes.com