Nepal’s Supreme Court has ruled in favor of marriage equality, ordering the government to ensure equal marriage rights for queer and transgender couples. The decision makes Nepal the 40th country in the world to legally recognize equal marriage, providing lasting legal certainty after a 2023 interim ruling. The 2023 decision followed a lawsuit by nine LGBTQ+ activists challenging laws that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. Nepal’s LGBTQ+ advocacy group Blue Diamond Society welcomed the decision, calling marriage equality “a guarantee under Nepal’s Constitution” and urging the government to swiftly put the ruling into practice.
