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.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS