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Gays rock as guys wed
KATHMANDU, AUG 17 -
Mukti Neupane, a Brahmin priest and all of 58 years old had officiated at thousands of wedding. He thought he had seen it all. But, Mukti was not to get mukt (liberated) yet. Surprises come in packages, and when his came his jaw dropped when he discovered he was supposed to officially join two men in matrimony.
Neupane solemnised the union between the two men — S Khan, a British national of Indian origin and J Shah, an Indian from Ahmedabad — at the Pachali Temple in Teku, in what many believe is the first instance of Nepal ‘hosting’ a gay wedding.
His feelings were mixed. “I don’t know whether to feel proud of this record,” said Daura suruwal-clad priest. “But I think one should take it positively.”
When the rituals completed after the two gay men — in love since last seven years — exchanged wedding rings, the sexual minorities invited there as guests sang and gyrated to music on the temple premises. It was an achievement for sexual minorities in Nepal to conduct a gay marriage, and more than that, a great victory of love for two gays.
Khan and Shah had long been planning to live a conjugal life in the UK, where same-sex couples are allowed to enter into “civil partnerships”. Khan was planning to bring Shah to the UK on a dependent visa but that would require a marriage certificate, which was not possible in India. The two chose to marry in Nepal as they thought that gay marriages were already legalised here (which is not true) and they believed that the certificate that they would get after the marriage would help Shah get a dependent visa from the British High Commission in New Delhi.
“I am excited,” said Khan as he hugged his partner Shah after the priest completed the marriage ceremony in 30 minutes. “We both hope to stay together in the UK now. We’ve tied the knot.”
The marriage, though not recognised by any law in Nepal, was, however, hailed by the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an NGO of sexual minorities led by lawmaker Sunil Babu Pant, the first openly gay MP in South Asia. BDS issued a marriage certificate to the gay couple for which it paid a $200 fee. “This is the first case where we have started issuing gay marriage certificates,” said Pant, who argues that after the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that directed the government to prepare law to ensure rights of the sexual minorities, gay marriage is “no longer illegal” though it has not been “recognised”.
The marriage programme was intentionally kept secret as there were chances that if anyone squealed, the police might have intervened. The wedding, in the Pachali Temple at Teku, went ahead uninterrupted. The newly wed couple bad farewell to over 60 guests, including gays, lesbians, transgenders and some media persons who were invited. “We are going for our honeymoon to Shimla in India,” said Shah to curious bystanders.
The Hindu priest who tied the knot of the Muslim man with the Hindu man had a different reading though. “Though this is a marriage for the gay couple, I have taken this as a Meeteri, a ritual to tie two men in friendship forever,” said Neupane.
“But you changed the mantras of marriage, right?” explained Pant. Everybody laughed aloud when Neupane nodded he did so as per the wish of the couple.
Posted on: 2010-08-18 04:54
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