A gay weekly for Nepal
Nepal's first gay weekly highlighting issues affecting the country's burgeoning gay community will hit the stands in the third week of January.
Sudeshna Sarkar
Indo-Asian News Service


Kathmandu, Jan 2 (IANS) Nepal's first gay weekly highlighting issues affecting the country's burgeoning gay community will hit the stands in the third week of January.

The eight-page Blue Diamond Weekly in English and Nepalese, funded by the British embassy, aims to sensitise locals about the gay community.

It is being launched by Blue Diamond Society, an NGO that was started in 2001 by Nepalese gay rights activist Sunil Panta to disseminate information about the risk of contracting HIV and AIDS through unprotected same gender sex and provide a voice to a community that alleges persecution by family members, employers and even police.

The Blue Diamond Society complains that its members are rounded up by police and beaten up. It is currently facing a case filed by a lawyer who wants the government to shut it down.