Name: Sunil Babu Pant

Born:  June 28th 1972, Nepal

In a nutshell:  Initially trained as a computer engineer, Sunil Babu Pant is the first and only openly gay politician in Nepal, where he was elected to the assembly in 2008.  In addition to politics, he also founded Nepal’s only gay rights group, The Blue Diamond Society.

The group encompasses 20 organisations, has 120,000 members and has worked for the past 11 years to promote LGBTI issues and advocacy in the largely conservative country, despite threats of arrest and violence.  The work of the society led to a 2007 case where Nepal’s highest court declared that gay people were “natural persons” who deserved equal civil rights and protection by law.     

Mr Pant also leads the Pink Mountains travel agency which caters for LGBTI visitors and honeymooners.

Need to know:  Pant deactivated his Facebook account earlier this year in a public protest against the site which does not currently recognise 3rd gender or gender-variant people.

More: http://bluediamondsociety.wordpress.com/