Nepal

Homosexuality is not illegal in Nepal. There is no law against homosexuals in the civil code of Nepal, but paragraph 4, § 16 of Nepal's civil code punishes "any kind of unnatural sex" with up to one year imprisonment. This law has been abused as justification for the arrests of men who have sex with men and transgender people. Foreigners can get expelled for committing homosexual acts. Even though gay activists supported the 2006 Maoist rebel protests against the dictatorial king Gyanendra, who consequently agreed to the devolution of power, the Maoists have called for the repression of homosexuality. In their opinion, homosexuality is "a by-product of capitalism". Particularly metis - i. e. male-to-female transsexuals - are being victimized by the police. There are reports that even owning a single condom was sufficient reason for an arrest. On the 21st December 2007, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued a directive order to the Government of Nepal to recognize third gender (LGBT) according to their gender identity and protect sexual and gender minority rights. On the issue of same sex marriage, the Court issued a directive order to form a seven member committee to conduct a study on practises adopted by other countries and international practice on same sex marriage.