Nepal’s first same-sex marriage in the Himalayan country was registered in a village on Wednesday, officials and activists said.
It came five months after the Supreme Court had issued an interim order allowing such marriages in the largely conservative country.
The marriage between 36-year-old Ram Bahadur (Maya) Gurung, who was born male but identifies as female, and Surendra Pandey, 26, who was born and identifies as male, was formally registered at the Dordi rural municipality office in the Lumjung district in west Nepal, an official said. Pandey said in a phone interview:
“We are both very happy. Like us, all others in our community are happy too.”
The couple have been in a relationship for nine years and got married according to Hindu rituals in 2016 in the capital Kathmandu. Hem Raj Kafle, chief administrative officer of the Dordi rural municipality, said:
“We have issued the marriage registration certificate to the couple in consideration of the Supreme Court order and instructions from relevant government authorities.”
In June, the country’s Supreme Court issued an interim order allowing same-sex couples to register their marriages pending a final verdict.
Hindu-majority Nepal has become increasingly progressive since a decade-long Maoist insurgency ended in 2006. Two years later, political parties voted to abolish the 239-year-old Hindu monarchy, a key demand of the Maoists, whose commander-in-chief is now prime minister and leads a coalition government with the centrist Nepali Congress party.
In 2007, Nepal’s Supreme Court had granted legal approval for same-sex marriage. Nepal’s 2015 Constitution explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, underscoring the nation’s commitment to equality.
