Kathmandu, May 24 -- When Resham Neupane came across the news, they couldn't believe it. A photo of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen's new name-explicitly including the words 'Gender and Sexual Minorities'-had popped up when they were lazily scrolling their Facebook feed one day earlier this month.

In an era of generative artificial intelligence and fake news, an announcement this significant felt implausible. ''It was so surprising," Neupane told the Post recently. "I felt like, is this even real?''

Resham, 30, is a rights worker. They have spent their entire adult life advocating for the queer community, whose rights, as they say, exist on paper but dissolve at the ward office door.

''The ministry should ensure that...