The Times of India reports that that the first gay representative has been nominated to Nepal’s new government’s assembly, a month after an historic election and the dethroning of the king.

Sunil Babu Pant, a 35-year-old crusader for gay rights who founded the first organization to protect the rights of sexual minorities and ushered in a social revolution, now becomes part of Nepal’s political history as well after being chosen by the Maoist communist party to represent it in the 601-member constituent assembly.

“We are honoured to send Pant as our representative to the constituent assembly,” said Ganesh Shah of Communist Party, who’s Communist Party of Nepal-United (CPN-U) has won five seats in the assembly under the proportional representation system. “We hope it will improve the lives of a people who are the most repressed in Nepal, disowned both by society and their own families,” he added.

Pant, a computer engineer from Belarus, founded the Blue Diamond Society in 2002. It is now one of the best known gay rights groups in South Asia, fighting for the release of detained queer people, increasing HIV/AIDS awareness, running a hospice for terminally ill gay patients, and providing training and jobs to members of the community.