BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tribe blesses lesbian ‘marriage’
An Indian tribe has given its consent to a lesbian ‘marriage’ in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.A priest belonging to the Kandha tribe led the ceremony between Wetka Polang, 30, and Melka Nilsa, 22, in Koraput district recently.
Both the women are day labourers and now live together in Dandabadi village.
Same-sex relationships are outlawed in India. The 145-year-old colonial Indian Penal Code clearly describes a same sex relationship as an “unnatural offence”.
Sociologists say that a community blessing a same-sex ‘marriage’ is unheard of in India.
It was not easy for Wetka and Melka to convince their tribe that they wanted to get married and live together – the local community at first fiercely protested at the idea.
