Nepal's first transgender politician on a mission
Published on : 5 March 2012 - 10:04am | By Devi Boerema

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/nepals-first-transgender-politician-a-mission

When Bhumika Shrestha was little she loved to dress up in her mother's clothes and wear her sister's lipstick. Her parents did not see a problem in their son wanting to dress-up. He was just a little kid after all. But Bhumika, then called Kailash, didn't grow out of it. When she became a teenager she knew for sure that she didn't want to be a boy anymore, but a lady.

"My family gave me a boy's name, Kailash. I didn't like it because when I grew up my feelings and my way of thinking was totally a woman. I didn't know why, but I felt like a girl," says Bhumika Shrestha.

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Bhumika Shrestha is an example of this success. From being taunted by her community when she was younger, she is now an avid spokesperson for the BDS, and the country's first transgender politician.

"In Nepali society, especially in my village, people do not understand. When I walk around, people look at me and start laughing," Bhumika explains how it wasn't easy for her to grow up in a small village.