Homosexuality is a crime in Nepal and will land you in prison for a year, but that's not stopping Anil Mahaju, 28, and Diya Kashyap, 22, from holding what is being reported as Nepal's first public gay wedding tomorrow at a small ceremony in Kathmandu.
The Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's gay rights group where Diya works as an HIV/AIDS outreach counselor, has supplied the venue for the ceremony.
Last April, the Blue Diamond Society joined a movement hoping to oust the autocratic government of King Gyanendra in hopes to stop violence and arbitrary arrests of people suspected of being gay.
Obviously the wedding is largely symbolic, but a big step for a country whose last attempt at a gay wedding, according to the Times of India, resulted in two women being disowned by their families and forcibly locked up.
BDS's president, Sunil Pant, praised the couple for going forward with the ceremony: “I am really excited and happy that they have dared to challenge (traditional) culture and family values, where the whole society is oriented towards heterosexual marriage. It is very courageous of them and I congratulate them.”
First Public Gay Wedding [times of india]
