c. 2008 Religion News Service

Nepal’s Supreme Court OKs same-sex marriage

CHENNAI, India (RNS) Nepal’s Supreme Court has given its consent to same-sex marriages, ordering the country’s Maoist-led government to craft laws to guarantee full rights to gays and lesbians, including the right to marriage.

“This is a landmark decision for the sexual minorities and we welcome it,” said Sunil Babu Pant, Nepal’s first publicly gay lawmaker and a leading gay rights activist in South Asia.

The Supreme Court ordered the government to set up a seven-member committee to study same-sex partnership/marriage laws in other countries and recommend similar legislation for enactment by Nepal, where Hindus are the dominant religious group in a population of 27 million

The court also asked the government to ensure that the language of the new law does not discriminate against sexual minorities. It ruled that c