Nepal gives legal status to transgender for the first time

In a first for Nepal, a transgender person has been given a citizenship certificate which gives special recognition to the gender.

Kathmandu, Feb 04:

Chanda Musalman of Banke district in western Nepal has been recognised not as a man or woman, but as "both" in the official document, an NGO working for the protection of the rights of sexual minorities said today.

Chanda had applied for citizenship certificate as a transgender and the administration has accepted the application and granted the certificate, said Sunil Punta, president of blue diamond society.

This is for the first time any Nepalese person has got citizenship certificate which marks the gender as "both"( male and female).

I hope that the other rights of sexual minorities will be ensured as well, Panta said.