Unprotected and unaccepted

Progressive court rulings favouring LGBTQIA+ rights have failed to address their mental health needs.

In Nepal, belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community often means living between two difficult realities: The constitution pledging “equality” but not defending LGBTQIA+ individuals from violence and stigma, and a society that smiles at diversity only on posters while whispering insults at family dinners. Most LGBTQIA+ people spend all their adolescence hiding bruises under school uniforms, adulthood couch-surfing after getting kicked out by their parents, and middle adulthood nursing untreated anxiety and depression because “real men don’t cry” and “good women marry”. The loneliness is so heavy, it starts to feel like part of who you are.