Courtney Mitchell and Sarah Welton Two American women have celebrated Nepal’s first public lesbian wedding ceremony after that nation began recognising gay rights and drafting laws to end sexual discrimination. Courtney Mitchell, 41, and Sarah Welton, 48, celebrated in a Hindu Nepalese tradition at the Dakshinkali temple south of Katmandu. Local gay rights activists and supporters cheered the ceremony attended by the couple's close friends. Openly gay Nepal MP Sunilbabu Pant, a gay rights activist who attended the OutGames Human Rights Conference in Wellington earlier this year, 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.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 22nd June 2011 - 12:48pm