Reuters —Local authorities in a village in Nepal registered the Himalayan nation’s first same-sex marriage on Wednesday, officials and activists said, five months after the Supreme Court issued an interim order clearing the way for such marriages in the largely conservative country. “We have issued the marriage registration certificate to the couple in consideration of the Supreme Court order and instructions from relevant government authorities,” said Hem Raj Kafle, chief administrative officer of the Dordi rural municipality. In June, the country’s Supreme Court issued an interim order allowing same-sex couples to register their marriages pending a final verdict. “It will open the door for them to jointly open bank accounts, own and transfer property like just any other couples.”Taiwan is the only other place to legalize same-sex marriage in Asia, where societies remain largely conservative. Hindu-majority Nepal has become increasingly progressive since a decade-long Maoist insurgency ended in 2006.

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Persons: Ram Bahadur, Gurung, Surendra Pandey, ” Pandey, ”, Hem Raj Kafle, Sunil Babu Pant, Nepal’s, Pant Organizations: Reuters, Local, Blue Diamond Society, Maoists, Nepali Congress Locations: Nepal, Lumjung, Kathmandu, South Asia, Taiwan, Asia