Nepal’s first international gay wedding ceremony
A Hindu Priest performed the first wedding ceremony in Nepal for a foreign gay couple yesterday.
One of Nepal’s most prominent gay activists, Sunil Pant was happy to announce that Sanjay Shah a man from Leicester and his partner an unnamed Indian man tied the knot yesterday at a ceremony in Katmandu, Nepal.
A gay rights group called Blue Diamond Society arranged the ceremony and issued the pair a certificate for a $200 fee. However, the two men were not legally married because Nepal has no laws legalizing same-sex marriage and does not marry foreigners. Notwithstanding, marriage ceremonies performed by Hindu priests are usually accepted in Nepali society.
Gay rights in Nepal have improved significantly over the past few years. As well as having an openly gay member of parliament, the country will now issue “third gender” identity cards and appears set to enshrine gay rights.
These changes have also filtered into Nepal’s tourist industry as government officials hope that gay tourists will visit the county and spend more money than the backpackers who now stay in cheap hotels and travel on shoestring budgets.
A group called Pant’s has established the Pink Mountain tour company, which caters to gay tourists and promotes Nepal as a safe destination for them. It offers gay honeymooners trekking trips in the Himalayas and has proposed same-sex wedding ceremonies at the Mount Everest base camp.
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