Nepal’s gays hit by Maoist clean up drive

Nepal’s gays hit by Maoist clean up drive IANS Thursday, January 04, 2007 22:11 IST. Maoist cadres have gone around ordering house owners not to let out rooms to lesbians and homosexuals

KATHMANDU: After being persecuted by King Gyanendra’s regime and the new multi-party government, Nepal’s homosexual community is now at the receiving end of a society clean up drive launched by Maoist guerrillas. The communists, who now freely roam in the capital after they signed a peace accord with the new government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and had the terrorist tag lifted, have now turned their attention to cleaning “social pollutants”, ranging from pornographic films to homosexuality. Kathmandu’s gays, who had joined hands with the Maoists and political parties to oppose King Gyanendra’s direct rule, felt the new communist crackdown last month after Maoist cadres went around ordering house owners not to let out rooms to homosexuals and lesbians. Alarmed at the diktat, members of the community met Sagar, the former Maoist commander of Kathmandu to persuade him to call off the drive.

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