--- title: U.K. Celebrates One of Its First Same-Sex Muslim Weddings description: Despite adversity, Jahed Choudhury and Sean Rogan tied the knot, marking a historic moment in the evolution of marriage in the U.K. canonical: https://time.com/4853939/gay-muslim-marriage/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-11T21:55:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:18.195Z og:title: This Couple Made History With Their Same-Sex Muslim Wedding og:description: They tied the knot in traditional attire og:url: https://time.com/4853939/gay-muslim-marriage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Couple Made History With Their Same-Sex Muslim Wedding twitter:description: They tied the knot in traditional attire twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This History-Making Couple Just Had One of the U.K.'s First Same-Sex Muslim Weddings  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 11, 2017 9:55 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 11, 2017 9:55 PM UTC Newlyweds Jahed Choudhury and Sean Rogan are helping make history in the U.K., which legalized [same-sex marriage](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/11621812/Mapped-Where-is-same-sex-marriage-legal-in-the-world.html) in [2013](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-23338279). (It’s still not on the books in northern Ireland.) But another element of Choudhury’s identity sets this wedding apart: Choudhury grew up in a traditionally [Muslim](http://time.com/4823273/finsbury-park-mosque-attack-hate-crime/) family, and says he is ostracized from his relatives for his sexual orientation. The couple met in 2015 when Choudhury says he was crying on a bench not long after attempting suicide by overdose, he told the [_Express and Star_](https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/walsall/darlaston/2017/07/10/watch-uks-first-gay-muslim-marriage-hosted-in-walsall/). He had made a series of attempts to appease his family by taking on religious [pilgrimages](http://time.com/4483465/saudi-arabia-iran-hajj-islam-mecca-ayatollah-khamenei-abdulaziz-sheikh/) and dating a woman, none of which panned out; he was ultimately banned from his mosque and, he says, assaulted. Rogan and Choudhury moved in together soon after meeting, and tied the knot in a low-key official ceremony at the registry office in Walsall, West Midlands on June 22\. Both chose to come decked out in traditional wedding attire, a nod to Choudhury’s heritage. “He gave me hope at one of my lowest points and he’s stood by me all the way,” Choudhury said of his new spouse. As for his family, he told the _Express and Star_ that some of them still think his sexual orientation is a “disease.” None attended his wedding. “I want to say to all people going through the same thing that’s it’s okay – we’re going to show the whole world that you can be gay and Muslim,” he added. > [](https://twitter.com/ExpressandStar/status/884502488602234880) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4853939/gay-muslim-marriage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4853939/gay-muslim-marriage/"},"headline":"This History-Making Couple Just Had One of the U.K.'s First Same-Sex Muslim Weddings","datePublished":"2017-07-11T21:55:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:18.195Z","description":"Despite adversity, Jahed Choudhury and Sean Rogan tied the knot, marking a historic moment in the evolution of marriage in the U.K.","url":"https://time.com/4853939/gay-muslim-marriage/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society","Marriage","viral","LGBTQ"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4853939/gay-muslim-marriage/","name":"This History-Making Couple Just Had One of the U.K.'s First Same-Sex Muslim Weddings"}}]}] ```