A 1 percent quota in the civil service would ensure our voices are heard within the bureaucracy

The bureaucrats in the Home Ministry are against transgender people, using regressive arguments that recognition will lead to ‘negative social consequences’ and ‘perversion’.

Nepal has long positioned itself as a beacon of LGBTQI+ rights in South Asia, frequently earning praise from international human rights bodies and global media alike. Yet, beneath the country’s celebrated constitutional guarantees lies a starkly different domestic reality—one mired in a ‘perpetual state of inactivity’ and rigid bureaucratic resistance. While the judiciary has repeatedly ruled in favour of queer rights, government departments such as the Ministry of Home Affairs have actively stalled progress, particularly concerning binary gender recognition for transgender individuals.