KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 22

Members of sexual minorities — LGBT community — have said they were facing more mental stress due to the crisis created by COVID-19.

They spoke of the plight in a programme ‘Challenges and Next Step Related to the Impacts of COVID-19 on LGBT Community’ organised by Blue Diamond Society, Pokhara.

On the occasion, Programme Manager of the Society, Suman Nepal, said the members of the community were compelled to face increasing mental problems while staying with their families who did not accept their identity as sexual minority during the lockdown.

As per the survey carried out by the Society among members of the LGBT community on the impacts of the pandemic, 27.1 per cent said they suffered excessive stress, while 21.6 per cent said they became short-tempered and 13.4 said they suffered from depression.

The survey was carried out among 172 members. Of them, 12.2 per cent attempted to commit suicide and 29.7 per cent experienced violence during the coronavirus pandemic, said Nepal. The survey showed that those staying alone in a rented house had faced more violence.

Moreover, Society Chair Pinky Gurung said that members of the community were deprived of COVID-19 test, treatment and health services due to financial crunch.

Gurung said, “There was increased risk among members of the community. They were unemployed and deprived of mental health service during this adverse situation. Nineteen members committed suicide due to the crisis created by the lockdown.

The Society’s Executive Director Manisha Dhakal opined that members of the community had been continuously facing violence and discrimination due to hatred from the family and society as well as discriminatory policy of the state.

Dhakal further said though Article 42 of the constitution states that the LGBT have rights to representation in every state organ, it is limited only to paper.