The queer rights movement in Nepal and the youth deviation Rukshana Kapali, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Applied Human Rights

Event details

Learning from Human Rights Defenders

After almost 20 years of Nepal's queer rights movement, it is a hot cake in the international community as one of the most progressive countries for queer rights. International media covers stories of success from Nepal and present it as a successful movement in South Asia. Rukshana Kapali’s talk will address what it is like to live in Nepal as a queer person and how she and others within the movement disagree that the country is progressive. Some argue that Nepal is progressive on paper but not in legal implementation, yet even the legal reality is not necessarily what is shown to the outside.

What was once thought to be progressive, may appear otherwise now. 20 years on, with a new generation stepping in, previous milestones have become barriers and what was once thought to be progressive are now regressive toxic ideas. Rukshana’s talk will give an insight into how Nepal's queer movement has formed a monotony and disallowed diverse narratives to grow in, how certain voices are silenced and the queer movement in Nepal is presented as a united front lead by a singular entity.