{"id":4684,"date":"2016-02-13T07:01:48","date_gmt":"2016-02-13T01:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=4684"},"modified":"2016-02-13T07:01:48","modified_gmt":"2016-02-13T01:16:48","slug":"trans-rights-meet-the-face-of-nepals-progressive-third-gender-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/trans-rights-meet-the-face-of-nepals-progressive-third-gender-movement\/","title":{"rendered":"Trans rights: Meet the face of Nepal’s progressive ‘third gender’ movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kathmandu (Pahichan) February 13 – I<\/span><\/span>n October last year, Bhumika Shrestha touched down in Taiwan, stepped off the plane and made Nepalese history. Holding in her hand a passport marked \u201cO\u201d for \u201cother\u201d, the transgender activist became the first Nepali citizen to travel with documents marked with the country\u2019s legally recognised \u201cthird gender\u201d.<\/p>\n

The passport was the latest in a string of victories for the country increasingly highlighted as a leader in transgender rights. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that citizens were entitled to select their gender identity based on \u201cself feeling\u201d. Soon after, the Nepal Election Commission began allowing voters, who do not identify themselves as either male or female, to register as a third gender. In 2011, the Nepal<\/a> Census was the first attempt by any national government to count its people by three genders.<\/p>\n

For Bhumika, landing in Taiwan was a victory both political and deeply personal. \u201cI felt so happy holding that piece of paper,\u201d she says. \u201cFor so long I had fought for my right to my identity. It was a very proud moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journey to Taiwan took the 28-year-old far from her hometown of Naikap, and a long way from the identity she was assigned at birth \u2013 as a boy named Kailash. She has fond memories of her early childhood in what was then a small, conservative village in west of the Kathmandu valley: \u201cI remember as a child wearing dresses with my sisters, and playing with \u2018girls\u2019\u2019 toys. My parents were always very supportive.\u201d\"India\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was at the age of 11 that things became more complicated. \u201cI didn\u2019t yet know what the word transgender meant, but at that point I started to feel different from other children,\u201d says Bhumika. \u201cAround then I started getting called derogatory names like \u2018Hijra\u2019 and \u2018Chakka\u2019.\u201d The bullying increased \u2013 walking down the street started to become difficult. \u201cSome teachers turned a blind eye, others told me that if I was going to behave like a girl I shouldn\u2019t come to school.\u201d At 16, she dropped out: \u201cI felt so bad and so alone.\u201d<\/p>\n