Gay MP Steps Up During Nepal Crisis

Sunil Babu Pant, the gay MP and leader of the gay rights movement in Nepal, is a lone voice trying to resolve the ongoing leadership struggle that has put his country on the brink of ruin.

According to The Times of India, Pant became the first voice in parliament to protest after a 14th round of elections failed to elect a new prime minister on Friday. Ram Chandra Poudel of the Nepali Congress, the only candidate in the last eight rounds of election, refuses to relent, even though he received only 96 votes of 300 needed to win power from the 601-seat parliament.

Pant is calling for a saner way forward.

"The 36-year-old stood at the entrance of parliament, holding two banners," reported the Times. "'End this drama,' said one while the other urged for a way out of the impasse. Pant, who has successfully lobbied to have same sex marriages endorsed by Nepal's Supreme Court, became the rallying point for frustrated MPs, bureaucrats and even security personnel, who agreed there should be a stronger protest in future. 'We are meeting on Sunday to devise how to storm the rostrum on Monday and stage a protest against the futile polls,' Pant told TNN."

The 15th round of voting is scheduled for Monday.