The title of this recording is "Bhakti Shah". It was recorded in Wellington Town Hall, 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington on the 16th March 2011. Bhakti Shah is being interviewed by Gareth Watkins.  Their names are spelt correctly but may appear incorrectly spelt later in the document. The duration of the recording is 11 minutes. A list of correctly spelt content keywords and tags can be found at the end of this document. A brief description of the recording is: In this podcast Bhakti Shah from Nepal talks about attending the human rights conference. The content in the recording covers the 2010s decade. A brief summary of the recording is: In an interview recorded on March 16, 2011, at Wellington Town Hall, Bhakti Shah from Nepal discusses attending a human rights conference and the significant progress made in LGBTQ+ rights in Nepal, particularly through the work of the Blue Diamond Society. The organization, formed in 2001, champions the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals across Nepal and has empowered more than 350,000 people to stand up against injustices and discrimination. Before the inception of the Blue Diamond Society and the landmark 2007 Supreme Court decision, LGBTQ+ individuals faced intense discrimination, were derogated publicly, and were without legal protections. The Supreme Court's directive in 2007, prompted by a petition from the Blue Diamond Society, represented a turning point, mandating the recognition of third-gender citizens as equals and instructing the government to amend discriminatory laws and draft potential same-sex marriage legislation. The societal response varied initially, with some concerns that recognition of third-gender rights would promote negative behaviors. However, education and counseling from the Blue Diamond Society led to a gradual improvement in the public's attitude toward LGBTQ+ communities. Previously commonplace public harassment has diminished, and a sense of pride and recognition among the marginalized groups has grown. Bhakti Shah expressed the ongoing struggle for the equal right to live and to have relationships legally recognized, paralleling the freedoms enjoyed by heterosexual couples. The goal is for LGBTQ+ individuals to live openly with full familial recognition and to achieve equality in all aspects of society. With the backdrop of the human rights conference, Shah shares aspirations to continue learning, meeting new people, and deciding what knowledge and experiences to bring back to Nepal. Looking forward to a future where LGBTQ+ rights are assured globally, Shah hopes that in 30 years, people will look back at the recording and appreciate the hard-won struggles for equality, understanding the depth of the challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community, including third genders from Nepal. The full transcription of the recording follows.  It includes timestamps every thirty seconds in the format [HH:MM:SS].  The transcription begins:  I am. Uh I'm from Nepal. A new one. I'm Bakti. I'm from Nepal. I came to this conference to learn new things, make new friends and then get the knowledge [00:00:30] back to country. More Blue Diamond Society. I belong to Blue Diamond Society, which is a gay rights organisation in Nepal. Blue Diamond Society Blue Diamond [00:01:00] L Blue Diamond Society was found [00:01:30] in 2001 Blue Diamond Society has been supporting gays, lesbians, bisexual, transgender people from across the country. This is the only organisation have effectively empowered the gays lesbians, bisexual, transgender into sex people now under the umbrella of Blue Diamond Society. There are more than 350,000 LGBT [00:02:00] across Nepal who are in a position to stand for their rights and fight injustices. How are LGBTI people treated in Nepal [00:02:30] Supreme Court Court decision Before 2001 before the Blue Diamond Society, LGBTI faced a lot of discrimination. Even they were called names walking in the streets. But after that, the situation has improved, particularly after 2007, when the Supreme Court decided in favour of LGBTI Nepal. [00:03:00] The situation has improved for better. What happened in 2007. In a petition [00:03:30] filed by Blue Diamond Society, the court ordered the government to recognise third genders as equal citizens of Nepal. The court also ordered to form a seven members committee to draught the same sex marriage bill, which is ongoing now. The court also ordered the government to scrap or amend all the discrimination laws against LGBTI. How did the rest of the population respond to those changes [00:04:00] [00:04:30] counselling? The first reaction from the people was Oh, this decision will will influence more more perversion. But after the follow counselling from Blue Diamond Society, people are taking it positively. [00:05:00] There are more than 350,000 who have gone in contact to Blue Diamond Society across Nepal. There are many more who are closeted and then still yet to reach. Since since 2007 have you seen a change in people's attitudes towards lesbian and gay transgender [00:05:30] intersex people? Big changes before people used to call name, even walking in the streets. Now it's much less and we ourselves also [00:06:00] very proud of who we are and then, like I, I can live and then get around saying I'm a person of third gender to, [00:06:30] for example, born female but grew as man or born male grew as women are called. Third changes [00:07:00] [00:07:30] like men and women live in society. We also want to live, and then that's what our struggle is about. And then we have made some achievements, but we have a long way to go. [00:08:00] Uh, it's, uh, the right to live with our partner of our choice, like the heterosexual couples are are enjoying. So it it's a recognition of our relationship as a marriage and then have a full recognition of family that we we form [00:08:30] coming to this conference. What would you like to take away from from this experience? Yeah, [00:09:00] There are a lot of new things I've been learning meeting new people. I haven't decided what exactly. I will take home back, which I will do end of tomorrow because we are still 1. 5 a day. Where to go? I'm just excited to be here in 30 years time [00:09:30] when somebody hears this recording or they hear it 30 years from now. What would you like to say to them of this? No, [00:10:00] Zealand, [00:10:30] I don't think people would care much after 30 years about our struggle today because even in countries like Nepal, the rights will be insured for everyone, including third genders. But if they are recording in a website and somebody listen, probably they would think, Oh, you know, even people like third gender from Nepal came to New Zealand, attended this conference and they did the hardest struggle for the [00:11:00] for the equality and the environment we have today. Thank you. The full transcription of the recording ends. A list of keywords/tags describing the recording follow. These tags contain the correct spellings of names and places which may have been incorrectly spelt earlier in the document. The tags are seperated by a semi-colon: 2010s ; Asia Pacific Outgames (2011) ; Bhakti Shah ; Blue Diamond Society ; God ; Job ; LGBT ; Malaysia ; Nepal ; Pacific ; People ; Toronto ; Wellington ; Wellington Town Hall ; bisexual ; change ; choice ; closeted ; conference ; disability ; discrimination ; education ; environment ; equality ; family ; friends ; gay ; gender ; government ; history ; human rights ; identity ; intersex ; justice ; knowledge ; lesbian ; march ; marriage ; music ; opportunity ; perversion ; petition ; recognition ; respect ; sad ; sex ; struggle ; tennis ; time ; trans ; transgender ; walking ; website ; women ; yoga. The original recording can be heard at this website https://www.pridenz.com/apog_bhakti_shah.html. The master recording is also archived at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand.  For more details visit their website https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.1089438. Please note that this document may contain errors or omissions - you should always refer back to the original recording to confirm content.