The Nepalese Supreme Court has ruled that gays & lesbians “are defined as a “natural person” and their physical growth as well as sexual orientation, gender identity, expression are all part of natural growing process. Thus equal rights, identity and expression must be ensured regardless of their sex at birth.” Sunit Pant, Nepal’s only gay MP campaigned for the decision. The court has directed the legislature to enact a marriage equality act and it is expected to do so. [Pinknews]
Nepal Issues Final Judgement Conferring Full Rights to LGBT Citizens
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Trenton
Amazing! I never would have guessed that Nepal would be one of the first in that region (or anywhere, for thatmatter) to honor gay marriage.
D.bARR
What’s even more amazing is how countries all over the world can pass such (though I think they’re unneccessary) laws and leave the U.S. (who is supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave…) behind. Amazing…but reality.
John in CA
I guess Nepal will beat Taiwan to the “first same-sex marriages” in Asia title. Good for them.
For those who don’t keep up with this region of the world, the Taiwanese Parliament has been debating whether to legalize same-sex civil union and/or marriage since 2007. President Ma has indicated he supports the recognition of gay relationships. However, he’s leaving it upto the legislature to hammer out the details. And since this is Taiwan, they’ve been more interested in sniping at each other than compromising. (sigh)
Othniel
Nepal is kind of new to this whole Democracy thing – their King recently quit and made them have elections.
An Other Greek
wow
———————-
horus
they really showed us a thing or two!
right on.
namaste
Inertia_90
Nepal has gay marriage before the United States. It is really going to take a while for that to sink in.
CitizenGeek
Wow, that was fast! Way to go Nepal! Asia really has a long way to go in terms of gay rights, especially compared to Western Europe, so it’s good to see Nepal is leading the way!
ronnie
The fucking USA is not and has never been a land of the free.
John in CA
Although our propaganda ministry (excuse me, the U.S. Department of Education) has changed the textbooks to make it seem like we were always the land of the free, America was actually founded by religious fanatics.
The people whom we euphermistically call the “Pilgrims” in this country are better known in Europe as the “Puritans.” And they didn’t leave England and the United Provinces (Netherlands) in order to protect religious freedom. The motivation was considerably more selfish. They left because their firebrand sermons of doom were getting tiresome and annoying to the Tudor – and later Stuart – ruling class.
Remember, the early American colonists considered actors and artists to be a social evil. They also advocated a ban on “vices” like alcohol, sex, and gambling. And then there were the witch-hunts and unsubstantiated charges of heresy. Come to think of it, maybe they aren’t that different from modern Americans.
closet123
Yay!!! This is amazing.
So I’m actually from Nepal, and this is so damn cool. I’m telling my parents!
closet123
@Othniel: BTW, that’s Bhutan you’re talking about. Nepal is the country where the Commies overthrew the monarchy. We still have an interim gov’t, but things look good đ
Othniel
@ Closet123
Thanks. I can’t think str8 even thinking of those high altitudes.
Still, good for your people, and for the world, to which you have set an example.
The Gay Numbers
One of the problems I’ve had with the gay advocates when arguing with the Christian right is that they do not correct them about whether gay marriage is accepted abroad when in fact countries like South Africa already have gay marriage as a part of the constitutional rights of its citizens. Now we can add Nepal to this list.
Mike in Taiwan
Amazing! Well done, let’s hope Taiwan follows suit!