Nepal becomes the first South Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage

It’s a historic step for equality as Nepal’s supreme court has ruled for all same-sex marriages to be legally binding from 28 June 2023 forward.

Nepal’s Supreme Court judge Til Prasad Shrestha ordered the government to recognise, and immediately register same-sex marriages and other non-traditional heterosexual relationship. While the decision only applies as interim, it’s only for the legislation to prepare a new legal framework.

[Hero and featured image credit: Jose Pablo Garcia/Unsplash]

Nepal is first South Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage

The Supreme Court ruling reportedly states to give the same rights to same-sex unions as heterosexual couples, and to set up a separate register for same-sex couples until a permanent framework is in place.

It is estimated that roughly 200 couples could officially register their marriages within the few months ahead.

This kind of ruling, however, is not entirely new in Nepal. There have been similar court rulings that date back to 2007—to form a committee to prepare for new legislation and recognise same-sex marriages, but successive administrations have not brought any actual legislative change to the matter.

In June, a petition was filed by LGBTQ+ activists to finally enforce these rulings, and thus the verdict was reached. This had made Nepal the first country in South Asia to allow same-sex marriages. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka are still very much lagging behind when it comes to marriage equality.

Nepal is also the second country in all of Asia to legally recognise marriage equality, after Taiwan. For Thailand, we can only hope to follow suit, as there were readings of the marriage equality bill, but nothing seemed to follow after that. Asian countries are famed for being conservative when it comes to marriage equality, so Nepal being one of the first to pave the way spells out hope for the LGBTQ+ community throughout the continent.