What U.S. Courts Can Learn From Nepal

Nepal's Supreme Court has ordered their government to extend equal protections under the law to their gay, lesbian, transgender and intersex population. Homosexuality isn't illegal in Nepal, but under current laws, citizens engaging in "unnatural sex acts" can be sentenced to one year in jail. The law is unclear as to what acts are considered "unnatural."

Nepal's gay dam seems to have broken or at least begun the process of rupturing with their Supreme Court's historic order for the Nepalese government to extend their civil rights their LGBT and intersex population. The opinion reads:

"The government of Nepal should formulate new laws and amend existing laws in order to safeguard the rights of these people.

"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex are natural persons irrespective of their masculine and feminine gender and they have the right to exercise their rights and live an independent life in society."

By referring their LGBTI citizens as natural persons, the Nepal Supreme Court affirms the nature side of the deadlocked "born or made gay" debate—another globally historic move.

Comment:
Should the United States Supreme Court take Nepal's lead and order the U.S. government to provide equal protections for LGBT people?

_{Image: The Dhaulagiri along the Annapurna trail in Nepal. © Philip Niewold.}