Kiran Malla is a 53 years trans man from Nepalgunj. He lives with his partner Shreemaya and has been ardently working for the rights of the gender and sexual minorities.
Kiran has endured a lot of discrimination from family as well as the society in the past but he and his partner are accepted by their families and they have been living together for many years. The current situation of the LGBTIQ community is dreadful. Gender and sexual minorities have been struggling for their lives because they have lost their jobs, don’t possess any savings and deposits and they are unlikely to be offered help from their families.
Discriminatory behavior from the government and unfair treatment during the outbreak of a contagious corona virus has made the community suffer more consequences. Kiran Malla is a diabetic patient who had been struggling because he couldn’t buy his required medicines anymore. It is such an ill fate that a diseased person is unable to afford medication for his health condition. Studies have proved corona virus to be lethal to individuals with compromised immune system and as Kiran had an underlying health condition – diabetes, he was a more vulnerable to the virus but he couldn’t buy his regular medicines.
Mitini Nepal provided financial help to him so that he could continue with his medication. It is hard to imagine what the results could have been if he wouldn’t have gotten help at the right time. It is a sad reality for elderly and ageing LGBTIQ that even in these difficult times, government hasn’t stepped in to rectify their situations but has been showing discriminatory behavior instead.