- Homosexuality
- ⚢✔ Legal
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭Ambiguous
- Censorship
- ✔ No censorship
- Changing Gender
- ✔ Legal, no restrictions
- Gender-Affirming Care
- ✔ Legal
- Non-Binary Gender Recognition
- ✔ Recognized
- Hate Crime Protections
- ✖ No protections
- Discrimination
- ✔ Illegal
- Employment Discrimination
- ✖ No protections
- Housing Discrimination
- ✖ No protections
- Adoption
- Unknown
- Intersex Infant Surgery
- ✖ Not banned
- Military
- Unknown
- Donating Blood
- ✔ Legal
- Conversion Therapy
- ✖ Not banned
- Age of Consent
- ✔ Equal
Public Opinion
Recent surveys in Nepal have revealed a mixed response towards LGBTQ+ rights and issues.
History
Same-sex marriage in Nepal is ambiguous.
On 29 November 2023, the first same-sex couple in Nepal was able to register their marriage in the Dordi municipality, five months after the interim order was given. However, there are reports that other same-sex wedding applications have not been consistently registered.
In April 2024, Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the recognition of same-sex marriage in all the country's jurisdictions.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Nepal is no censorship.
Right to change legal gender in Nepal is legal, no restrictions.
Section 12 of the Constitution of Nepal (2015) was written in such a way that requires the Nepalese Citizenship Certificates to include gender identity (as opposed to just gender). This provision only applies to the first Nepalese Citizenship Certificate issued, not to an already-issued certificate. However, the decision of Sunil Babu Pant, Anik Ranamagar and others v. Government of Nepal (2017), ruled that existing citizenship certificates should also be amended.
Nepal began issuing passports with “third gender”/“O” markers, after the Supreme Court decision Dilu Dibuja v. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2017) ordered that a transgender person should be given a passport that matched their Nepalese Citizenship Certificate.
In 2019, Nepal’s House of Representatives proposed a bill to amend the Citizenship Act that would impact the rights of trans persons. The bill proposed an onerous proof of "sex change" as a requirement for a person to obtain a change of gender marker on their Nepalese Citizenship Certificate. This goes in contradiction with the above Supreme Court cases.
In addition, many transgender people who have applied for a gender change have been able to see their gender marker changed on behalf of the civil status.
Despite this, the process of a legal gender change was only permissible for nonbinary people and trans women couldn't change their markers to female or trans men to male until 2024.
Gender-affirming care in Nepal is legal.
Hate crime protections in Nepal is no protections.
LGBT discrimination in Nepal is illegal.
LGBT employment discrimination in Nepal is no protections.
LGBT housing discrimination in Nepal is no protections.
Intersex infant surgery in Nepal is not banned.
Serving openly in military in Nepal is unknown.
Blood donations by MSMs in Nepal is legal.
Conversion therapy in Nepal is not banned.
Equal age of consent in Nepal is equal.
LGBT Rights by Zone
View the LGBT laws in each individual zone of Nepal.
- Madhya Pashchimanchal (Development Regions)
- Madhyamanchal (Development Regions)
- Pashchimanchal (Development Regions)
- Purwanchal (Development Regions)
- Sudur Pashchimanchal (Development Regions)