Transgender Couple In Kerala Forced To Change Wedding Venue After Temple 'Denies Permission'

A dispute broke out in the district of Palakkad in Kerala after numerous members of a marginalized community complained about the temple's administration allegedly refusing to grant permission for a transgender couple to have their wedding there.

Nilan Krishna and Advika were engaged for some time before they eventually chose to tie the knot in the Thiru-Kachamkurissi temple.

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Their close friends claim that the wedding invitations depict the Mahavishnu temple as the location.

Because the couple was transgender, the temple officials reportedly said no to the wedding. The couple had to move the wedding from the temple to a nearby hall.

On the other hand, the officials of the temple, who are part of the Malabar Devaswom Board, denied the claim and said that they had not denied permission for the ceremony but had asked the people involved to talk to the temple board officials about the issue.

"Not the couple, but someone else connected to them came here and informed us of the plan to get married in the shrine. We did not understand then that the couple belonged to the transgender community," a temple official told PTI.

He said when they learned about the gender of the couple, they asked them to talk to the higher officials.

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"Board chairman and others were here. So, we asked them to talk to the higher officials as we have no right to take an independent decision in such a case. But, they did not turn up," the official, who does not want to be named, said.

He said no such marriages were ever held in the temple before.

The temple official stated that they do not typically approve of love marriages without the consent of the couple's parents and other relatives. In the future, these kinds of weddings at the temple could lead to legal problems and problems with the police.

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Isha Kishore, who fights for the rights of transgender people, called the situation terrible and said that the couple was not allowed to get married in the temple complex because of their gender.

"Every temple has its rules and rituals, and I completely agree. But, here, they denied permission in the name of gender. We all believe that everyone in this universe is the creation of the Almighty," she told PTI.

And besides, the activist wanted to know how the temple administration could deny the couple entry to God's house based on their gender.

The couple declined to give a statement.

(With PTI inputs)

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