KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal’s Supreme Court gave 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.
The Supreme Court ordered the government to set up a seven-member committee to study same-sex partnership and “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 cross-dressing, for example, is not perversion but constitutes an individual’s freedom of expression.
Under the ruling, Nepal joins Canada, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and South Africa in recognizing same-sex “marriage.” In the United States, only Massachusetts and Connecticut permit same-sex “marriages.” (TAB)
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