Eight years ago, when Sunil Babu Pant, a computer engineering student, returned from Belarus and opened the Blue Diamond Society, it was a low-key start to a movement aiming to win recognition, equality and justice for Nepal’s sexual minorities, who lived on the razor’s edge, humiliated, ostracised and stripped of dignity.

"At that time, it was difficult even to say outright that we were an organisation seeking equal rights and opportunities for Nepal’s gay, lesbian and transgender communities," says Pant. "So we described ourselves as an organisation seeking to spread awareness about HIV and AIDS and halt further infection."

Today, along with the other tumultuous changes that have transformed Nepal, the pink revolution has also grown by leaps and bounds. Pant is now a member of parliament who has a role in the drafting of the new constitution. Nepal’s Supreme Court has ordered the government to grant all the rights to the sexual minorities that are enjoyed by other citizens of Nepal and the Election Commission is readying to recognise third-gender voters when general elections are held next year.

Also, the Himalayan republic is now the first country in South Asia to give the green light to same-sex marriages, a decision that could have a stupendous effect on tourism, the mainstay of the economy.

Pant has now opened Nepal’s first tourism company for gay tourists, Pink Mountain Travels and Tours. Like other agencies, it offers travel and hotel reservations. But then, unlike other travel agencies, it is also offering gay and lesbian marriages as well as honeymoon packages in Nepal.

"South Asia is not friendly to gays and lesbians," says Pant. "Even Thailand in the neighbourhood, while being a sex tourism destination, lacks Nepal’s advantages. Nepal has some of the best adventure sports destinations and is bound to be deluged by gay and lesbian adventure lovers once we promote it as a gay destination."

In November 2008, after Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of same-sex marriages, couples have been flocking to the Blue Diamond Society office in Lazimpath from outside Nepal, asking if they could get married under its aegis. "However, we have to tell them that while we will be happy to provide a token ceremony, same-sex marriages are still waiting for the government to enact laws," says Pant. The Blue Diamond Society is hoping that once a new constitution is promulgated in May, 2010, the government will formulate laws allowing such marriages.

"We have already received booking from an American lesbian couple who want to travel to Nepal in 2010 and get married here," says Pant. An Indian couple ran away from home about two months ago and arrived at the Blue Diamond Society office, asking for help to get married. Last month, Pant received a call from a Filipino working in Dubai, who had heard of Nepal allowing same-sex marriages and said he wanted to bring his Arab boyfriend to Kathmandu to tie the knot.

"It can be an unforgettable experience," says Pant. "We can offer unusual and picturesque places for such weddings. It can be a five-star hotel in Kathmandu or it can be in Mustang or even the Everest base camp. We can offer a complete package that will include bridal makeup and cultural entertainment."

Blue Diamond Society has been training transgenders as beauticians and tailors. Besides, there are also gay dancers and singers. "We can generate employment for all these people who have the talent but do not have opportunities," says Pant.

The project has the blessings of Nepal’s tourism ministry, which hopes to bring 1 million foreign tourists to Nepal in 2011. In October, when Pant went to San Francisco to attend a symposium on gay tourism, he was given a message to read out at the meet by Nepal’s Tourism Minister Sarat Singh Bhandari.

Now it is Nepal’s turn to host the first gay tourism meet in South Asia. On Feb 26, Pink Mountain Travels and Tours as well as Community Marketing, a San Francisco-based market research and communications company, are jointly hosting the first Asian Gay Tourism Symposium in Hotel de l’Annapurna in Kathmandu in a bid to promote Nepal as a gay tourist destination.

Among the panellists at the symposium will be India’s gay rights activist Manvendra Singh Gohil. The 44-year-old Gohil comes from the former royal family of Rajkot in western India’s Gujarat state and is the only blue-blooded member to announce openly his own homosexuality. Gohil, like many homosexual men who did not know about their sexuality due to lack of awareness and the taboo on the subject in India, was married to a former royal clan member in 1991 with disastrous results. The marriage ended in divorce the following year and Gohil had a nervous breakdown.

In 2006, Gohil publicly acknowledged that he was gay. Though his shocked family disowned him at first, saying he had brought dishonour on the family name, eventually, they were reconciled. At present, Gohil has a serious relationship with a 29-year-old, Prajwal Miskin.

In late October, the couple gave an interview to India’s Daily News and Analysis paper, in which they reportedly said that though they wanted to marry, they couldn’t since same-sex marriages were not legal in India. However, they had heard of Nepal’s progressiveness in this regard and were mulling coming to Nepal to get married under the Blue Diamond Society’s aegis.

"I met Gohil in 2007," says Pant. "We were both attending a conference on HIV prevention in Bangkok hosted by UNDP. Gohil was there representing Lakshya Trust (the organisation he founded in 2000 for HIV/AIDS education and prevention). He was charismatic and innovative and when I read the interview, I emailed him, saying we would be glad to host a honeymoon package for him. He said he had always wanted to come to Nepal and also to see how Blue Diamond Society functioned. He plans to get married in 2011. "

The February symposium and Gohil’s arrival will create further momentum for and interest in Nepal’s gay rights movement and underscore how the once neglected gay community can boost Nepal’s tourism.

"Tourism is the mainstay of Nepal’s economy," says Pant. "For a decade, it was affected by the insurgency. Now, if the government wants to boost tourism, it has to innovate. Gay tourism is an untapped market in South Asia. Most Asian countries are unfriendly towards gays. When Nepal begins promoting gay tourism, the added advantage will be that there will be no competition from the other countries in the region."