Nepal legalizes same-sex marriage, as prospects advance globally

KATHMANDU, Nepal - The Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the government to begin registering same-sex marriages on Wednesday, June 28, making the Himalayan nation of 30 million people the second country in Asia where same-sex marriage is legal.

The order is the culmination of a fifteen-year-long battle for equal marriage that began shortly after the country’s transition to democracy in 2007. That year, laws criminalizing sodomy were repealed, and the Supreme Court ordered the new government to change all laws that discriminate against LGBTI people.

Nevertheless, while the new government passed a new constitution in 2015 that explicitly forbade discrimination against gender and sexual minorities, it never passed laws to allow same-sex marriage.

The courts in recent years have gradually opened up rights for same-sex couples since then, and in March, the Supreme Court ordered the government to pass legislation for same-sex marriage.

With the government not moving to pass same-sex marriage legislation, seven individuals, including a representative of the country’s main LGBTI advocacy group, the Blue Diamond Society, filed a suit seeking an order to allow same-sex marriage.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted the order, instructing the government that it must register same-sex marriages immediately and until it passes legislation to recognize same-sex marriage.

“This order today from the Supreme Court is just and right because the Parliament can’t take forever to ensures citizens’ rights, equality and non-discrimination,” the Blue Diamond Society said in a press release announcing the decision.

“This is very significant development as same-sex as well as third-genders and their partners can register their marriages. They will be entitled rights equal as heterosexual married couples. Parliament may take a while to pass the marriage equality law, but this order gives a very practical solution to members of sexual and gender minority communities who wish to register their marriage legally,” the press release said.

Marriage equality prospects also on the rise in Czechia and Thailand

Nepal isn’t the only country where same-sex marriage is advancing.

On Thursday, June 29, the Czech Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies narrowly voted to advance an equal mar- riage bill to second reading. The bill will undergo a 120day hearing process in committee before returning to the Chamber for a final vote in the fall. The vote was - , but the final vote will likely be decided by the deputies who did not vote on the bill Thursday.

The deputies also voted to advance a bill that would amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriage, and that bill is now also before committees. Although it earned more support in the Chamber on Thursday, it may struggle to reach the three-fifths supermajority required to become part of the constitution.

Thailand may be the next country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage if Pita Limjaroenrat, whose Move Forward coalition won the largest number of seats in last month’s parliamentary election, can win the support of enough of the military-appointed Senators to secure his selection as Prime Minister when Parliament opens July 3. Limjaroenrat’s eight-party coalition has vowed to pass an equal marriage bill if it forms the government, as part of a suite of reforms for the Southeast Asian country.

India’s Supreme Court is also expected to rule in the coming months on several cases seeking the right to same-sex marriage that it heard in May.

And in the United States, a Navajo Nation legislator has introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the largest tribal jurisdiction in the country. Same-sex marriage has been explicitly illegal in the Navajo Nation since 2005. Bills to repeal the ban failed to pass at the Tribal Council last year, but legislators are hopeful that growing tolerance of LGBT people will improve the bill’s chances this year.

ROB SALERNO