Kathmandu, May 28 -- On June 28, 2023, Nepal's Supreme Court issued an interim order mandating the government to temporarily register same-sex marriages. Queer-rights activists welcomed the verdict as "historic". Five months later, the country made headlines worldwide for registering the same-sex marriage of Maya Gurung and Surendra Pandey.

Despite optics, however, the couple didn't have an easy time registering their marriage. Both the Kathmandu District Court and the Patan High Court had initially rejected their application, citing the absence of a federal law. Only after Gurung's home district of Lamjung issued a temporary certificate were they able to register their marriage on November 29, 2023.

Their case marked the first public e...