An LGBTQ couple has acquired a marriage certificate in Nepal, officials said yesterday, a first in South Asia and hailed by the pair as a win “for all.”
Transgender woman Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey obtained a marriage certificate from a local ward in Lamjung district on Wednesday.
“We are very happy and proud. This has finally happened,” Gurung said.
Photo: AFP
The couple held a Hindu marriage ceremony in 2017, and live together with their dog and cat.
“This is a win not just for us but for all couples like us,” she said.
In June, the Nepalese Supreme Court issued an interim order allowing all same-sex and transgender couples to register their marriages, directing the government to establish a separate temporary register until laws are formulated.
Gurung, 41, and Pandey, 27, were the first to apply at the district court, but it refused to register their marriage.
Their appeal was also rejected.
“We then approached the local authorities, who were much more open to listen,” said the couple’s lawyer, Rounik Raj Aryal.
Yubraj Adhikari, chairman of rural Dordi municipality in Lamjung district, said the registration certificate was issued after instructions from the Nepalese Department of National ID and Civil Registration.
“The instructions were based on the Supreme Court’s decision and they submitted all other required documents,” Adhikari said.
Many in the community were waiting for Gurung and Pandey to pave the way and register their marriage.
“It is a win after a decades-long battle for marriage equality. They have made history. It is a milestone day for us to celebrate,” LGBTQ rights activist Sunil Babu Pant said.
Nepal already has some of South Asia’s most progressive laws on homosexuality and transgender rights, with landmark reforms passed in 2007 prohibiting discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.
A third gender category for citizenship documents was introduced in 2013 and Nepal began issuing passports with the “others” category two years later.
However, Nepali law had stayed silent on same-sex or transgender marriages despite a 2015 expert committee recommendation to legalize same-sex marriages following a Supreme Court order to enshrine the rights of sexual minorities.
The Supreme Court also ordered the government this year to recognize a non-heterosexual marriage of a Nepali with a foreigner and issue a spousal visa.
However, the country’s LGBTQ community — estimated at more than 900,000-strong — still faces discrimination, particularly for jobs, health and education.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including