Kathmandu, Anil Mahaju and Diya Kashyap met about a year ago, were attracted towards each other and, after going steady for some time, decided to tie the knot.


The wedding will be solemnised at a little party in Kathmandu Saturday attended by friends and well-wishers - but no relatives.

Anil and Diya are not their real names but the names they have chosen for their future life together. Both the groom and "bride" are men and the wedding will be the first public gay marriage in Nepal where homosexuality is a crime, punishable with a year in prison and a fine.

"I am really excited and happy that they have dared to challenge (traditional) culture and family values, where the whole society is oriented towards heterosexual marriage," says Sunil Pant, president of Blue Diamond Society, Nepal's most prominent gay rights organisation that is offering its premises for the wedding.

"It is very courageous of them and I congratulate them."

As part of a gay rights organisation, Pant knows better than most the perils homosexuals face in Nepal's conservative, patriarchal society. Blue Diamond Society has to routinely bail out gays and transgenders arrested by police on weekends, beaten up, detained without trial and even sexually assaulted inside police stations.

Blue Diamond Society had also informed human rights organisations about the murder of a teenager in southern Nepal, allegedly by his father, after his family discovered he was gay.

About six years ago, two women in the tourist town of Pokhara decided to get "married" in secret. But the local media got hold of the news and the ensuing blaze of publicity resulted in the women's families first throwing them out and then trying to keep them locked up forcibly.

Though the couple came to Kathmandu and tried to start afresh by opening a small grocery, they continue to be harassed by local toughs, including security personnel.

While Anil is a 28-year-old graphics designer, Diya is a 22-year-old working at Blue Diamond Society as an outreach worker counselling on the spread of HIV/AIDS through unsafe sex and other problems faced by the community.

Their wedding, according to Pant, will be a simple, semi-traditional affair in which they will exchange rings and garlands before witnesses, followed by a little feast for the guests.

However, there will be no priests chanting the traditional wedding mantras.

The "revolutionary" wedding takes place at a time Blue Diamond Society and two other organisations, Mitini Nepal and Shakti Samuha, are asking for gay rights to be included in the new constitution of Nepal.

They want changes in the citizenship law where tesrolingis - transgenders - would be recognised as tesrolingis in the citizenship card and other government certificates, which currently have just two genders, male and female.

They also want the fundamental right of equal wage regardless of gender and recognition of marriage or civil union between two individuals regardless of their gender and sexual orientation.


Source: http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=825758

Rudra prasad jee, 'genetic basis' is not the basis for saying that something is normal or abnormal. ok, so pedophilia has a genetic basis, so what? dreaded diseases like various cancers and Hemophilia also have a genetic basis, so r they normal?

the whole point is that u don't say whether a behavior is normal or abnormal on the basis of 'genetic inheritance'. that is where the issue of 'mature, consenting adults' comes into picture.

Legal age defined by law? NAMBLA members want to reduce the age of consent. You can't guarantee that they won't succeed in their endeavors. In Europe, that good ol' bastion of liberalism you look up to, they really are trying to change the age of consent. Thank god I live in the United States. They have no moral compass in Europe these days. In some places, even bestiality is legal. Actually, even in some states here in America, like Washington. Maybe they changed it. I don't know.

Lets get real, pedophilia has a whole different moral dimension from homosexuality. Unless you are Bill Oreily and think NAMBLA scouts are prying on your kid in his playground.

To add a dose of realism, no one in their right minds will reduce the age of consent to something as ridiculous as 9 or 10. It simply is not going to happen but is a fear that the religious right is playing on to serve a vested interest.

NAMBLA and Bill Oreilly are two sides of the same moronic coin to me.

"Unless you are Bill Oreily and think NAMBLA scouts are prying on your kid in his playground. "

They are, my friend. I have already done a quick sex offender search for my neighborhood. There are tons of sexual molestors in my neck of the wood.

If you don't believe me, do a search on:
http://www.ancestorhunt.com/sex_offenders_search.htm

'add a dose of realism, no one in their right minds will reduce the age of consent to something as ridiculous as 9 or 10."

Dude, as I said or implied or insinuated in one of my previous posts, they probably said the same thing about gay marriage 50 years ago.

rudra prasad upadhya,

are you that gullible that you will believe a man can understand a cows language professing love?
with a 40 yr old and a 9 yr old comparison you bring out a lot of interesting situations. You said 40 yr old man and a 9 yr old girl. Thats interesting to me. Why not 40 yr old woman and a 9 yr old boy? What is more interesting is that you brought out a heterosexual union that you think will be a problem out of legalizing a homosexual marriage. Isn't that a little funny? I dont think homosexuality has anything to do with pedophilia. This is like me saying if you legalize homosexuality, you will have to legalize narcotics too. There are no connections. Theres no worms in the can that we are about to open Mr. RPU, infact its already open.
Pedophilia is a crime because one of the protagonists is a child. someone who can't defend of himself/herself. That's the reason its a crime. We need laws to protect people who can't protect themselves, and a minor is one of them.

rudra prasad upadhya,

so banning gay marriage will stop them from reducing the age of consent?

In many cities in America, gay marriage has already been banned. Boston is the bluest city in the Union. I understand that gay marriage has been put in the ballot in Boston as well. Let's see how it turns out.

"Why not 40 yr old woman and a 9 yr old boy"

That's wrong as well. I already mentioned Mary Kay Lateornou's case.

"is more interesting is that you brought out a heterosexual union that you think will be a problem out of legalizing a homosexual marriage"

Do you get what I'm saying? I suggested that homosexuality will open a whole new debate. Pedophiles(who may or may not be homos) will want to push their beliefs as well.

"Pedophilia is a crime because one of the protagonists is a child. "

That's what we say today. What guarantee can *you* give me that the law won't change in the future? That's where we're heading anyway.

Alright, I have had it with this discussion. I'm out.

well if there is a consent from both partners and the law welcomes it...then what's the big deal, just like gay marriage we will head towards another revelation...pedophile society..hehe...let's bring them all on!

that was my original point


LooTe

"That's where we're heading anyway"- we r not heading there. We are there since ages. Girls have been married at ages of 6 - 7 from many centuries in Nepal. A 70 year old man marrying a 12 yr old girl, that too as his nth wife is not an unheard news in Nepal or India. Age of giving consent for marriage has been raised and fixed only in recent times in Nepal. So we r heading towards things which are definitely going to be better than the past.

WHATS WRONG IN GAY MARRIAGE