Born with Pride Conference being organized in Kathmandu

The two-day-long ‘Born with Pride Conference’ is being organized in Hotel Himalaya, Kathmandu. The conference started today, September 27.

The conference is being organized by the Regional Office South Asia of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), in collaboration with the Samriddhi Foundation, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kathmandu, and the German Nepal Friendship Association.

The conference is engaging in conversation with multiple stakeholders of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community, politicians, activists, academicians, lawyers, organizations, and civil society. 21 speakers from 7 South Asian Countries as well as from Europe and the Tibetan community and more than 100 participants attended the event.

The high number of participants in the conference shows the importance of the issue and the great willingness to know more about the issue.

The conference also has welcomed 7 keynote speakers from across the Nepali and European political spectrum addressing various LGBTQIA+ community issues. There are 5 interactive sessions to discuss various topics such as queer in power, inclusive digital spaces for queer persons, the issue of legal recognition, the role of media, and the acceptance and integration of queer persons in civil society.

Speaking at the conference, Dr. Carsten Klein, Head of the FNF Regional Office in South Asia states, “platforms like this provide an opportunity to have a healthy dialogue, network, and come together to solve the inequalities and discriminations”.

Similarly, Former Minister of UrbanDevelopment and member of the House of Representative Ram Kumari Jhakri thanked the organizer for organizing the conference and highlighted the need for convergence of political and civil society campaigning to achieve the shared goal of promotion and protection of queer rights noting that “our party has nominated two inclusive candidates in the upcoming federal and provincial election and that we are determined to bring them in the upcoming House of
representative”.

Yannick Shetty, a Member of the Austrian Parliament, highlighted the need for a value-based foreign policy that condemns discrimination.

The event will conclude on 28th September.