India’s Supreme Court has heard some petitions from same-sex couples seeking legal recognition of same-sex marriage. It has also ordered all courts across the country to transfer any similar petitions in their systems. The request means that the top court effectively takes ownership of all related cases and, ultimately, sets the ball rolling in the direction of same-sex marriage in India.
As the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court heard the petitions, members of the United Hindu Front, a right-wing religious organization, protested outside. They believe that homosexuality is against Indian culture, that the petitions should go unheard, and that the Supreme Court should not entertain the idea of same-sex marriage.
The top Court has given the federal government five weeks to outline its stance on same-sex marriage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has until February 15 to respond. After it does, the top Court plans to hear pleas by gay couples and activists.
Modi’s government has opposed same-sex marriage in the past. Chances are that it will remain unchanged in its response to the Supreme Court.
“Same-sex marriage would cause complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country,” Sushil Modi, a Member of Parliament from Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party, or BJP, said in parliament just last month.
“Same-sex couples living together is one thing, but giving them legal status is a different thing,” he said in a TV interview later that day. He added that there were a “lot of issues” still to be addressed.
Among the petitioners are Supriyo Chakraborty and Abhay Dang, who have been together for 10 years and want to legalize their marriage under India’s Special Marriages Act. Then there is Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj Anand, who have been together for 17 years and raise two children together.
“I am just like you,” Mehrotra told Reuters. “I am just like anybody out there, and it’s a natural next step for us to want to get married. And so, our plea to the court is give us that right to get married.”
It was only five years ago, in 2018, that India’s Supreme Court decriminalized homosexual sex. The colonial-era homophobic law meant homosexual acts were punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The risk of social punishment for homosexuality–including harassment, violence and discrimination–was also high in 2018, and remains high today. Such consequences for being homosexual in India have led lesbian, gay and bisexual people to reserve their authenticity for the underground.
The petitioning couples say they’re denied many rights by being prohibited from marriage, including those related to medical consent, pensions and adoption. Indian gay rights activists have campaigned for same-sex marriage for decades. They stress that marriage equality won’t fix all the problems facing the homosexual community in India because social acceptance is so low.
“Social acceptance and family violence of the LGBTQ community needs to be addressed,” Rituparna Borah, co-founder of Nazariya, a sapphic feminist resource organization, told CBS News.
