Sunil Pant is the founder and president of the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), a now a network of 20 groups and organisations working on HIV/AIDS, human rights and social justice for sexual gender minorities and men having sex with men (MSM) in Nepal. Sunil Pant began working with these marginalised communities in early 2001. Since founding BDS, Sunil Pant has focused on advocacy and the need for HIV intervention among men who have sex with men (MSM) along with the need to address violence against sexual and gender minorities in Nepal. BDS now has HIV and human rights programmes in more than 9 cities in Nepal and continues to expand rapidly.

Sunil Pant has also been involved in working for HIV infected/affected communities with Global Fund, WHO, UNAIDS and on human rights with AP-Rainbow, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other international and regional networks and organisations. The Utopia Award 2005 recognised the organisation's work on HIV and human rights.

Sunil Pant and his colleagues at BDS carry out this work under the threat of arrest and imprisonment, with the security forces and militia cracking down on LGBTI networks throughout the country. Coupled with a lack of legal protection and the beliefs of a traditional society, the environment in which LGBTI rights defenders work is a volatile one. Many of the BDS staff have been arrested and imprisoned; transgender people face extortion, blackmail and rape and other forms of violence.

"I was born in 1972 and grew up in Gaikur village, Gorkha District. I went to school in my village, up to high school I finished from the same school. I always thought every one is like me and every one is different with diverse sexuality and gender identities/expression. My sexual identity never bothered me nor anyone else having different sexual and gender identity and expression.

I didn’t have a plan to start the Blue Diamond Society in the beginning. I was curious to find out about the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) culture and to meet other LGBTI people. After I discovered so many problems faced by LGBTI people like rape, exclusion, blackmail, beatings, discrimination and lack of proper understanding and knowledge on LGBTI rights and health, I thought we must get together, organise ourselves and stand up to the situation for the betterment of Nepal’s LGBTI. If we were to end the continuous marginalisation that we faced, we had to be prepared to struggle for our own rights and concerns. So, in 2001, we registered The Blue Diamond Society. The colour Blue represents sexual minorities in Russia and in Buddhism enlightened and compassionate people are called diamond beings (Bodhi-Satva) which I was very fond of and so named the organisation Blue Diamond Society.

Initially, the Blue Diamond Society had to struggle against taboos and mores. The first attempt at registering the society was denied because officials objected to the very concept of homosexuality. We were pressurised to change the organisation’s objective into “correcting homosexual behaviour” but finally found a loophole that allowed us to work in the area of male health.

We were then faced with the challenge of coaxing men having sex with men (MSM) and Transgender people to join the society because they were afraid of being targeted by homophobes. BDS estimates that about 95 percent of MSMs and TGs are forced into heterosexual marriages by their families who don’t want scandals. They suffer from depression, low self-esteem and social ostracism.

BDS was Nepal’s first LGBTI rights group and is a community-based organisation with key activities including health promotion for sexual minorities, psycho-social counseling, raising awareness of HIV/AIDS, promoting human rights and sexual health, documenting human rights violations and providing support to those whose rights have been violated. BDS has made major accomplishments in only a few years in protecting the human rights of sexual minorities, improving sexual health and promoting HIV prevention, and raising awareness in society. BDS provides daily social support to Nepali citizens who have been harassed, attacked or abandoned. Protection and support extends to different sexual minorities. This creates a safe space, a major, ongoing accomplishment, fostering an atmosphere where people can meet and address the issues and challenges of living in a society where stigma and discrimination is rife. They discuss and understand their sexual and human rights.

Men who have sex with men, sex workers, LGBTI and other community members, often from low economic, educational and caste status, mingle and the benefits and service to marginalised communities in Nepal are clear."