KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 10
People and supporters of LGBTIQ+ community today joined a march from Maitighar to celebrate the 3rd annual transgender pride parade.
The pride parade is organised with the message of 'Pride in identity and breaking the social stigma against LGBTIQ+ community'. The rally is celebrated in Nepal on the second Saturday of June. Participants in today's parade displayed their transgender pride flag that symbolise pride, diversity and rights. The month of June is celebrated as the pride month around the world.
However, unlike other generic pride parade, this parade will be specifically celebrated for transgender people.
It is said that the issues of transgender people are often overshadowed within the larger umbrella of LG- BTQ+ community.
The organiser of today's parade said the celebration was held to highlight themes, issues and cases of transgender people.
When the LGBTIQ+ community started getting recognition in the beginning, there was not even a word in the Nepali language for the word 'transgender', as per the organisers. Instead, the authorities identified them as third gender which grossly misrepresented their identity as transgender men or transgender women.
"The word tesro lingi (third gender) was used to denote transgender people in the Khas/Parbate language.
That is how the wrong concept of 'transgender means third gender' was established.
This word could not clarify the gender identity of transgender men as men and the gender identity of transgender women as women," reads the press release by QYG.
It was the QYG, which on 17 December 2018 coined Nepali term 'pāralaingik' as a literal meaning of transgender.
"This lexical establishment has paved the way to advocate that transgender women are women and transgender men are men."
Commemorating this historic day of December 17, it was decided that the Transgender Pride Parade would be organised on the same date if it was a Saturday, or the Saturday that followed the date. However, since it was deemed difficult to remember this custom, from this year onwards, the QYG has decided to celebrate Transgender Pride Parade on the second Saturday of December, thereby marking the second Saturday of December as Transgender Pride Day. QYG is a non-profit organisation which advocates the rights of marginalised sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual characteristics.
Trans Rights Collective, a loose network of trans folks advocating rights and betterment of transgender people, is also working in tandem with it.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
