Malaysia saw the first publicised same gender marriage recently. Reported in a Chinese daily, the couple from Batu Pahat received the blessings from their friends and families where they underwent a full Chinese traditional marriage last week. They were known as Thomas and Apple, aged 29 and 27 respectively.

Thomas and Apple are both women where Thomas wore a white suit while Apple wore the traditional white bridal gown and exchanged vows in front of their family and friends during the wedding where a tea ceremony also took place.

On top of that, there were also ‘ang pows’, jewellery and the common standard procedures practiced in a typical Chinese wedding customs where the ‘groom’ and ‘his’ entourage arrived at the bride’s home and brought her back. The couple went through 2 years of courtship before they decided to ‘get married’. While it is still not permissible by law, many have been calling for amendments on human rights involving the gay community. Such is the case with the recent case where the court rejected Mohd Ashraff from changing his name to a woman’s name after he underwent a sex-change operation. After the rejection, Ashraff passed away due to heart complications as reported.