Nepal Registers First Official Same-Sex Marriage
We are both very happy, the Couple said
Ram Bahadur (Maya) Gurung, 36 and 26-year-old Surendra Pandey, from a village in Nepal, have marked a historic milestone by becoming the first same-sex couple to officially wed in the Himalayan nation.
According to an official, marriage registration took place at the Dordi rural municipality office in the Lamjung district, West Nepal.
Gurung, born male but identifying as female, and Pandey, born and identifying as male, expressed their joy for their newly recognised relationship.
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“We are both very happy. Like us, all others in our community are happy too,” shared Pandey in a phone interview.
This significant event comes five months after Nepal’s Supreme Court issued an interim order, paving way for same-sex marriages in a country that has traditionally held conservative values.
Hem Raj Kafle, the chief administrative officer of the Dordi rural municipality, confirmed the issuance of the marriage registration certificate to the couple.
“It will open the door for them to jointly open bank accounts, own and transfer property like just any other couples,” he emphasised.
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Having been in a relationship for nine years, Gurung and Pandey originally tied the knot in 2016 in Kathmandu, following Hindu rituals.
Nepal now joins Taiwan as one of the few places in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, challenging societal norms in regions where conservative attitudes prevail.
While this progressive step is celebrated in Nepal, other countries continue to persist especially in Africa.
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As of 2021, only 22 African states have legalized homosexuality, with severe legal consequences in some regions, including imprisonment and, shockingly, death in four countries — Mauritania, Nigeria (where sharia law is applied in certain states), Somalia, and South Sudan.
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