Nepal Approves Same-Sex Marriage

by Michael Jones · 2008-11-19 12:55:00 UTC
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NepalNepal has just become the first South Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. Nepal, the country that borders India (where homosexuality is still illegal) and China (which is slightly better - homosexuality was decriminalized 11 years ago, and was officially removed from lists of mental illnesses in 2001, but the Communist Party in China has a long history of persecuting LGBT people).

Nepal's Supreme Court ruled this week that the Maoist-led government must formulate necessary laws to guarantee full rights to gays and lesbians, including the right to same-sex marriage.  How amazing is this?  Just one year ago, Nepal's court issued a ruling that officially recognized the citizenship of gay and lesbians.  Today, these same gays and lesbians can get married.

So much for social progress being slow! Two years ago, gays and lesbians weren't even considered full citizens. Today, it looks like they can get married.

This ruling could have major international implications, too, in part because India's High Court is set to rule early next year about whether or not to decriminalize homosexuality.  India is Nepal's next-door neighbor. Could Nepal's actions put renewed pressure on India to decriminalize homosexuality?

Per the Nepal Court's ruling:

A seven-member committee [will] be formed by the government of Nepal to study the different same sex partnerships/marriage bills/acts in other countries and recommend the government to make same sex marriage/partnership acts. Based on the recommendation of this committee, the government must introduce a same sex partnership/marriage act.

Sunil Pant, who just this year became Nepal's first openly gay Member of Parliament (MoP), had this to say about the ruling.  I can't think of a better way to end this post, myself:

Reading this decision my eyes were filled with tears and I felt we are the most proud LGBTI citizens of Nepal in the world. It is the most beautiful news.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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