Nepal’s first same-sex married couple say next generations ‘will not suffer like we did’

The first gay couple in Nepal to have their same-sex marriage officially recognised vowed on Friday 1 December to campaign for changes in the law to help others like them to get married.

Surendra Pandey and Maya Gurung were able to legally register their marriage at a village council office this week in the mountains west of the capital, Kathmandu.

Pandey is a man and Gurung is a transgender woman.

Nepal does not allow its citizens to change the sex assigned at birth on their official documents.

“We will continue our campaign for same-sex marriage and fight to bring equality to sexual minorities in this country so that generations of people will not have to suffer like we all did,” Gurung told reporters on Friday.