http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110620/nepal-hosts-first-public-lesbian-wedding-ceremony-110620/

Picture of bride and groom in above link


he Associated Press

Date: Monday Jun. 20, 2011 9:19 AM ET

DAKSHINKALI, Nepal — A lawyer and a college professor from the United States celebrated Nepal's first public lesbian wedding ceremony Monday in the Himalayan nation that recently began recognizing gay rights and drafting laws to end sexual discrimination.

Courtney Mitchell, 41, and Sarah Welton, 48, from Denver, Colorado, celebrated in a Hindu Nepalese tradition at the Dakshinkali temple south of Katmandu, the capital of the Himalayan nation. Local gay rights activists and supporters cheered the ceremony attended by their close friends.

Nepal Parliament member Sunilbabu Pant, a gay rights activist, said it was the first public wedding of a lesbian couple in the mostly conservative nation.

Same-sex marriages are not legal in Nepal, where gay couples hid their relationships until recently, when the supreme court ordered the government to legally guarantee sexual rights and end discrimination. The laws are being drafted, but broader political differences have delayed passage.

Pant said while Monday's wedding did not hold any legal status, "it was a huge achievement for gay rights campaign in Nepal."

Pant and his group, called Blue Diamond Society, have been fighting for their rights and have even opened a travel agency hoping to bring in foreign gay couples to come to Nepal for weddings and honeymoon.

At the temple, 14 miles (22 kilometers) south of Katmandu, Mitchell wore trousers, a hat and vest while Welton wore a red sari and covered her head with a veil.

A Hindu priest performed the ceremony. The couple offered flowers, fruits and money to the fire and gods at the traditional ceremony. The couple put flower garlands on each other while Mitchell put red vermillion powder on Welton's forehead, which is equivalent of exchanging of rings in a Christian wedding.

The guests danced to tunes played by a traditional band with drums and trumpets. One musician, Sitaram Basiyar, said he has performed at hundreds of weddings in his lifetime but this was his first lesbian wedding.

"I never thought I would see such a wedding in my lifetime," he said.

The couple said they were happy to be married in Nepal and to contribute to the campaign for gay rights in the country.

"It was my dream wedding come true. This is a fabulous ceremony," Welton said.

Mitchell worked with the U.S. Peace Corp in Nepal between 1998 and 2003, when people did not admit homosexuality.

"It is because if everything that has been happening since 2003 with sexual minority rights we decided to come here for the wedding," Mitchell said. "We are very excited about all the progress Nepal has made for gay rights in Nepal and I really wanted to show my support for Nepal."

The couple who met at a birthday party five years ago have adopted a 9-month-old girl.

They plan to register their wedding in the state of Iowa, where same-sex marriage is legal, while it is not in Colorado.

Blue Diamond Society organized a ceremony last year for a Briton and Indian united in Nepal's first wedding ceremony for a gay couple. It was a private ceremony attended by a few guests.

Yes, we see that but in deep down in their head,  they still think marrage is between a male and a  female, therefore they choose to be a male and female dress. Why not just a dress who they are? 
Just curius.

Here is the video from that bihe.

nalapani....i think you need to broaden your view bra!! why is this bikriti?? k biha bhaneko logney ra aimai manchey bich ma matra hunu parcha? don't two people have the right to be happy and marry  anyone regardless of their sexual orientation? hoina how is this making hindu dharma small or bad? why? our religion has always had a place for people who are considered to be "third gender" or gays/lesbians and i can proudly say that this shows Nepal will always accept people for who they are.

Wedding is a society created ritual. If our social norms accept it who are we to protest?

 This strikes me as a bit of a travesty not because two women got married to each other -- I have no problems with that -- but because the donor-fueled Blue Diamond Society used two foreigners as propaganda weapons and these two foreigners allowed themselves to be used to, dare I say, meddle in the social affairs of another society.

Besides, I am not sure what cause this really helps. If I were to make a guess, Sitaram Besiyar's observation quoted  above where he says "I never thought I would see such a wedding in my lifetime "   probably sums up what most people in Nepal  feel. I think it is a bad idea to use outsiders to set social examples. If Sunil Babu wants to set an example and really has the guts to do so, he should marry a man himself, do so at a public place like Tudikhel and invite all the CA members and maybe even the President and the ex-King to his wedding. If any publicity stunt has a chance of remotely working, that  might just be the one.

Not sure if I agree with you fully Vivant, but I do think you raise an interesting point. In this sensitive world, we seem to accept everything "forced" by the "suppressed" group of our societies. We have to make a conscious decision on to take it or reject.

waiyatt. bihana bihanai k dekhna paryo. aaja ko din kasto hune ho aba prabhu bachau malai

Let me tell you all ...it is not a Bikriti. In a science definition these people are being made this way and in our social definition, our religion had no issue with someone being gay...hell we have gay characters in our scripts.

Some of you do bring a valid point though...being a small and naive county it is easy for any group to influence or buy us out in their agenda. I cannot say that the international Gay lesbian groups are pouring lots of money into Nepal to give their cause more publicity. But even with that...what do we have to lose? Gay people have equal rights to live their way as we want to live our way.

I feel proud of the giant leaps my country has taken in recent years in terms of social liberty, justice and equality. 
Declaration of Republic: Any Nepali child can now aspire to hold the highest office of the country one day.
Secular State: Religion is an individual's choice and it shouldn't be state's affair. (most of the times its enforced by the family and society, but still you should always be albe to believe or not believe in anything and not be discriminated on that basis)
Equal Rights for homosexuals: Your sexual orientation shouldn't bar you from having a meaningful and fulfilling life just like everyone else. If two people who love each other, decide to marry, why should it bother you?

Can't you see, Nepal is providing this beacon of hope for these marginalized group of people who have been discriminated for centuries. At least in this liberal march we are leading the way in our region and I hope to hear more decisions in the future that will reinforce the humane values of justice and equality.

Stiffler,

This story raises two issues in my opinion:

(1) Are you for gay marriage?

My answer is yes.

(2) Do you support foreigners meddling in  Nepal's social affairs?

My answer is no.

I think some people here see this more as an issue of marriage equality because perhaps they are new to the issue or have not moved on from the equality debate. I can understand that. For someone who has accepted, digested and processed gay marriage, I feel we are missing the forest for the trees when we overlook the way Western donors are using Nepal to push their social agendas. From church groups on the right who practice predatory proselytizing and prey on the weakest sections of our society to left wing groups in the West pushing radical ideas, Nepal and other developing countries have become dumping grounds for the social agendas of advocacy groups in the West.

We ignore this at our own peril. That's all I am saying.

yo jay-z go rap to  your thug song, your dose of american fed dream of bullshit is meaningless when  people die in nepal of hunger, poverty and lack of proper basic  medical attentions. this guy thinks he is ML KIng or what ? haha I just put my face palm reading his crap haha wake up you are not in usa but in nepal  haha btw too much attention to white  ugly fat chicks in our country if you want to do lesbian  marriage get the hot chicks dammit, they look like they're only suitable for Jerry Springer show, classless priceless middle aged junkies no wonder they chose nepal,  this would not be great news to anybody except lesbian dreamer jay-z haha

हाम्रो अग्रगामी नेपाल मा यस्तै हो

here

oh wow bubu man ....looks like your perception of lesbians have been skewed by lot of porn site visitation, hot women sponging each other and fondling each others you know what.....sadly such is not the case most of the times although one can always fantasize, and i assumed you if anyone out here would know better judging by your vast intellect postings over the years. Anyway I believe in equal rights regardless of caste, creed, status sexual orientation and let me add "regardless of GOOD LOOKS" to the list. people dying of hunger, poverty and lack of basic medical necessities in Nepal and homosexuals getting married are vastly different issues. Why would you try to compare these unrelated issues with one another at all? Various Governement/Non Government agencies/charities etc. have dedicated programs to deal with each of the issues you have listed. However,  to what extent those programs are effective is another can of worms to deal with.   

Vivant, agreed. On a similar note:

Stiffler,

This story raises two issues in my opinion:

(1) Are you for asecular state?

My answer is yes.

(2) Do you support foreigners meddling in Nepal's social affairs?

My answer is no.

I appreciate the fact that we cannot discrimante against any regligion now, but hearing of the foreign meddling on how this change was brought about, I cringe.

So proud to be a Nepali.

Hey i was there in the gay pride parade in san francisco n this topic caught my eye.

My personal opinion is nepal is making small strides in terms of gay rights.

I know some ppl may see this as foreigners meddling in state affairs but please look closely but they are just ordinary people. Its just two people who want to be each other.

I don't kno wat a$$ man has been smoking but those two people look nothing like classless middle aged junkies but rather working individuals. Unfortunately a$$ man u sound like redneck who gets kick out of watching jerry springer.

I am not against Gay people, civil uinion or marriage. (But why Nepal and our temple? Simply because we are so cheap to be their pimp)
It proves Nepalese will do anything for $$$. If Gay marriage is not legal in Nepal, how could they?
Come to NY and get married.

 Very very good point amitraja? If they want to get married why to use our temple for the cheap publicity ? 

 Dear [*] [*]  (whatever that means!)
One of them is a college professor and the other is a lawyer and you call them "only suitable for Jerry Springer show, classless priceless middle aged junkies"; I wonder what you do for a living 
Liberate yourself from your medieval thoughts, and its not always the west that has to take the lead, its a global world, we don't need to wait for the whole of Europe and America end all forms of discrimination. Sometimes we too can set up an example as is the case right now. 
Anyway, I'm not challenging your opinion whatsoever, my progressive thoughts would mean nothing to your conservative ones, but I think in the long run truth and justice will prevail.