NEPAL: Sexual minorities face police brutality

KATHMANDU, 15 March (IRIN) - For Kala Rai, the freedom she so desperately craved as a 'meti', or transgender person living in Kathmandu, has never come easy. Arriving in the Nepali capital three years earlier from the small town of Dharan in Sunsari district, 600 km from the city, her plight is indicative of many in this particularly marginalised community.

"As a meti, I have always faced problems with my family and had limited opportunities," the demur


****

Iraqi cleric wants gays killed in "most severe way"


In the midst of sectarian violence that threatens to drag Iraq into civil war, the country's influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has issued a violent death order against gays and lesbians on his Web site, according to London-based LGBT human rights groups OutRage.

******

Bloomington considers transgender protections
Groups seek addition to discrimination law
Associated Press


BLOOMINGTON – Protections for transgender people might be added to the city’s human rights code under a proposal the City Council is expected to consider next month.