Kalavati Mistry, a Hindu, and Miriam Jefferson, who is Jewish, have finally tied the knot more than 20 years after they first met on a training course. The couple had a traditional Hindu ceremony in Kalavati’s hometown of Leicester, months after having a Jewish wedding in San Antonio, Texas.
Both brides wore traditional red and white bridal colours, fresh garlands, and ‘mangala sutra’ necklaces to shoe they were married.
Speaking to The Independent Kalavati, 48, said: ‘Marriage is very important to me. I grew up in a very traditional household, and really value the traditions and the culture. To me, I wanted to spend my life with someone, in a union.’
Ms Mistry revealed that she struggled to come out to her strictly religious parents and only did so a few years ago, but was met by acceptance. However, they struggled to find a Hindu priest willing to conduct the ceremony.
She said: ‘My family have embraced Miriam very well. I knew during my teenage years that I was (gay) and it was very difficult, trying to tell your friends and family and honour the traditions.
‘Once I told my friends and family a few years ago, they were very warm, welcoming and embracing to Miriam, which is very important. It’s really nice to now have a Hindu wedding here, because it brings both of us together and completes both of us in my eyes.’
The couple, who both work for an interfaith organisation, have now flown to Miriam’s home in Texas to start their life as a married couple.
Last June the same newspaper carried a story of the Indian parents of a gay man who threw him an elaborate traditional wedding, in a ceremony that clearly defied their home country’s attitude to homosexual relationships.
Rishi Agarwal, 35, and his fiancé Daniel Langdon got married at a golf course in Oakville, Canada, after meeting in 2011, with the Hindu ceremony funded entirely by Mr Agarwal's parents.
They performed all the standard rituals of a traditional wedding, including exchanging flower garlands and getting matching henna tattoos of each others initials.
