It’s a Happy Pride Month in Nepal as Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Equal Marriage Rights

The LGBTQI+ community in Nepal is certainly having a happy Pride Month. The Supreme Court of Nepal set forth a binding directive in June 2026 ordering the Government to guarantee equal marriage rights for sexual and gender minorities.

Provisional same-sex marriage has been around since 2023. However, this temporary registration of LGBTQI+ marriages did not grant same-sex couples the recognition and legal rights guaranteed to heterosexual couples. The new directive does grant those rights, though.

Here’s a look back at the years of activism in Nepal that led to this point.

A Recent History of LGBTQI+ Activism in Nepal

The Blue Diamond Society, founded in 2001 by Sunil Babu Pant, was one of the first organizations in Nepal to advocate for LGBTQI+ rights.

In April 2007, this organization, along with several other groups representing the LGBTQI+ community, filed a writ petition with the Supreme Court. This petition sought the recognition of third gender identities, a law prohibiting discrimination against sexual and gender minorities, and reparations for those who had faced State discrimination and violence.

The Supreme Court’s decision found that discrimination had indeed occurred against these minorities and that those in the LGBTQI+ community were entitled to the full rights enjoyed by all citizens of Nepal. Additionally, new citizenship cards would include a column for third sex individuals. It was also at this time that the Court ordered the Government to create a commission that would look at issues surrounding same-sex marriage.

It wasn’t until 2023, however, that the Supreme Court of Nepal issued an interim order ruling that the Government should temporarily register same-sex marriages. The first official same-sex marriage in the country occurred just five months later. However, these provisional marriages didn’t afford these couples equal rights with heterosexual couples.

Since then, those in the LGBTQI+ community have been waiting for a Court decision that would make same-sex marriages more than temporary and grant them the same rights as heterosexual marriages, which the latest order does.

One Final Note

Despite the progress Nepal has made, there is still further to go. In theory, the government of Nepal is constitutionally required to obey Supreme Court directives, but in practice, it doesn’t always do so. Whether it does so here remains to be seen.

Additionally, according to the president of the Federation of Sexual and Gender Minorites-Nepal, members of the LGBTQI+ community are still fighting for acceptance in larger society. For them, discrimination is still a part of their lives, so more must be done to raise awareness.

(feature image: Wikimedia Commons/AllyProud)

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