NEWSBYJULIET BLALACK

The following post substitutes pronouns 'her/his' and 's/he' with 'hir' and 'zie' to complement the preference of Norrie May-Welby.

It seemed like everything was going so well for Norrie May-Welby. Hir, and the rest of us who would like to chip away at the gender binary, too. After all, it's no small thing to make government bureaucracies acknowledge that there is more to the human race than M/F.

May-Welby was male at birth, and later opted for sex reassignment surgery. However, zie still found this wasn't who zie was. Then this month, the New South Wales (NSW) registrar made the bold decision to issue May-Welby legal documents declaring the 48-year-old's desired gender -- none.

"The concepts of man or woman don't fit me," May-Welby said. "The simplest solution is not to have any sex identification."

May-Welby's story went global quickly as zie (hir prefered pronoun) became the first legally recognized genderless person. Then, the NSW Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages called hir and informed hir that they would rescind the documents zie already received. You know, the ones that read 'sex not specified.'

“I am devastated by the news. It is a hideous, humiliating position to find myself in and makes a mockery of my human rights,” said May-Welby.

 Tell the New South Wales Registrar to make good on their promise!

Bhumika Shrestha, who won the first Miss Pink Nepal pageant, joined the Nepali Congress last week. Shrestha's journey from harassment and isolation to being sworn into one of the biggest political parties in Nepal symbolizes the amazing progress metis (transgender women) and the entire LGBT community has made in this conservative, majority-Hindu country in the past few years.

Shrestha told Sindh Today that she was constantly harassed by her peers in high school, and was eventually expelled because her teachers thought her gender non-conformity was harmful to the other students. Then Shrestha was arrested in 2007, when police were regularly using the obscenity law to take transgender women into custody for simply being out in public.

To combat this overwhelming stigma, Shrestha became active in the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's largest LGBT rights group. She spoke out against the (now extinct) policy of denying citizenship to LGBT people who were born in Nepal.

If you look at the LGBT rights movement strictly in terms of how it benefits LGBT people, you're missing the forest for the trees. After all, people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are a minority, while gains in gay rights change society as a whole -- and, in many ways, they benefit us all.

So here are the top five ways that rights for LGBT people benefit straight people as well. Just as we're grateful for our straight allies, they can take a look at this list and be grateful for us.

5) LGBT rights challenge restrictive gender roles

It's telling that some people who are victims of hate crimes do not even identify as queer -- merely the fact that they are perceived as such makes them vulnerable to ridicule and violence. In a world without homophobia, everyone would be more free to express themselves. People could have closer and more genuine friendships with people of the same sex without worrying that everyone will get the wrong idea. People can dress how they please. It no longer has to be an issue if Susie wants to be a truck driver when she grows up or Bobby wants to crochet. Homophobia often manifests itself in inflexible gender roles, which means less freedom and honesty for all. On the topic of honesty. . .

4) Acceptance of queerness promotes honesty

It doesn't help any workplace, classroom or family when some of its members have to lie for fear of being ostracized.  It's not nice to be in the closet, but it's also not nice to be the one being lied to.

Sure, some people would rather their coworker stayed in the closet, but plenty more people would prefer to see that coworker bring her partner to the office party (and have that partner be eligible for health care benefits, please!).

Nepal's seemingly unstoppable push for LGBT rights hit a roadblock this month when Maoist members of the Nepali Parliament threatened to strike if parliamentarian Sunil Babu Pant went forward with the First Asian Symposium on Gay and Lesbian Tourism.

Correction: The Maoists called the strike for separate political reasons. Pant then called off the symposium because he thought the country would be too chaotic during the strike.

Travel and tour companies from across the globe were scheduled to attend, and openly gay Indian Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil was to be the guest of honor. Pant also planned to host the wedding of Gohil to his Nepali partner at a later date. The wedding would announce the legalization of same sex marriage in Nepal -- and would roll out the welcome mat for LGBT tourists.

"We officially want to welcome gay and lesbian visitors, who think Nepal is conservative. This is a huge opportunity for Nepal because no one has tapped this market," Pant told The Nepali Times.

UPDATE: Nepal started their tourism campaign today, February 26th, under a no-strike agreement. There is no news as to whether the symposium was rescheduled or not.

Political power couples are nothing new. From John and Jackie to Hillary and Bill, we usually know our leaders' spouses, and often consider them political figures in their own right.

So could German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and his partner Michael Mronz become a political power couple? Might Mronz become a recognized face at political events? Will countries negotiating with Germany have to roll out the welcome mat not just for Westerwelle, but for his partner as well?

That seems to be happening already. Westerwelle and Mronz first came out five years ago when they went as a couple to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's 50th birthday party. Then on Westerwelle's recent diplomatic visits to China and Japan, Mronz came along. They even posed with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

The results? It seemed like a successful visit, as Wu told the Xinhua News shortly afterwards, ""When looking forward, we are confident about the future of the bilateral ties [with Germany]."

Two entrepreneurial women opened the first pride shop in India last month, with the goal of creating a store that's part retail and part community space. The store? Azaad Bazaar, and it's hoping to create a little social change, too.

"It’s not just a gay pride store, it’s a socially conscious store. We source bags from earthquake victims in Kutch, handicrafts from AIDS patients and organic cotton from slum rehabilitation groups in Mumbai," store owner Sabina told The Hindustan Times. The store also has a notice board connecting customers to queer events and support groups.

The store, which opened in Mumbai, sells shirts and mugs with a rainbow rickshaw logo (immortalizing the  pride rickshaws like the one pictured), the campaign rally call "Against 377," and the word "Azaad," in six different languages and the colors of the rainbow. The "Against 377" paraphernalia is a reference to the criminal code that outlawed homosexuality in India, and was struck down last year by Delhi's High Court.

It was impossible not to be disturbed and moved to action by the havoc wreaked on Haiti last week. In response to the continuing severe shortages of food, shelter and medicine in Haiti, several organizations are helping the LGBT population do our part.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Committee (IGLHRC) is collecting donations on behalf of SEROvie, a Haitian AIDS organization which works with gay men. Several members of SEROvie died tragically in the earthquake when the organization's building collapsed. SEROvie now needs help to continue providing even the most basic necessities -- clothes, food and shelter -- to its clients.

"I can’t even describe the horror as the ceiling and the wall of the conference room started to fall and the chaos started. Fourteen young men were lost forever in the earthquake," wrote Steve La Guerre, the leader of SEROvie, in an e-mail to IGLHRC.

What a time to be queer in India! Last year the High Court of New Delhi ruled that homosexuality is perfectly legal, pride parades are popping up from Bangalore to Mumbai, and now there's an Indian queer film festival in the works.

Filmmaker Sridhar Rangayan (pictured left) is sifting through submissions for India's biggest, if not first, LGBT film festival known as Kashish. Rangayan said he received over 100 submissions from a host of countries -- China, Israel, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the U.S. just to name a few.

Rangayan liked the idea of the Indian queer community getting the rare opportunity to see LGBT films from other countries, as many of the issues faced by global LGBT populations are the same. But that said, one of the primary goals of Kashish is to bring little-known Indian films that deal with lesbian, gay, bi and trans issues to a large audience.

"Our vision is to encourage greater visibility of Indian queer cinema and bringing it into the mainstream discourse," said Rangayan.

While in Malawi a gay couple sits in jail for their marriage, in Manila, House Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr. is pushing a bill that would criminalize gay marriage in the Philippines.

Never mind that same-sex marriages (or even civil unions) aren't recognized in the Philippines yet. Apparently the possibility of gay couples having private ceremonies is keeping Abante up at night.

House Bill 6919 recommends punishments for both the couple applying for a marriage license and the minister officiating the ceremony. If the bill passes, the newlyweds could get sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and a fine of P150,000 (about $3,200 USD). If either of them happens to work in the government, she/he will be fired and blacklisted from all public sector jobs.

Perhaps Abante is feeling a tad nervous about another bill in the Filipino House which would outlaw discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. He gave a speech condemning the bill as "death to a just and humane society." His explanation? It would lead to discrimination against heterosexuals.

In a bold tribute to love and activism, Malawi couple Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza married in a large public ceremony the day after Christmas.

Now, however, the two men are sitting in jail on charges of "gross indecency" and "unnatural practices between males."

They were denied bail by Judge Nyakwawa Usiwa-Usiwa, who expressed concern that Chimbalanga and Monjeza may be attacked if released. Their risk for violence in prison is just as real though. Not to mention the State Prosecutor tried to force the couple to go through a humiliating and invasive physical examination to see if they had sex.

"I am sad I am going back to Chichiri prison; the conditions are terrible there, " said Monjeza after appearing in court.

Time to send a message that these two men don't deserve to be thrown in prison for taking part in a same-sex marriage ceremony.

Chimbalanga and Monjeza pleaded not guilty, and their trial is slated for Ja