Pride March in Bombay, India on January 31, 2015. Danish Siddiqui / REUTERS
India’s Supreme Court on Monday (March 13th) sent motions to legalize same-sex marriage next month to an expanded constitutional court after the government said it opposed it.
The rights of the LGBT community in India have grown in recent years and, if the current case is successful, the country would become the second in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage, after Taiwan.
“Indian concept of family unit”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government argued on Sunday (March 12) that marriage laws in the country were governed by personal and codified laws, according to various religious communities. “Any interference in this area (…) would completely upset the delicate balance of personal laws in the country and accepted societal values“said the Department of Justice in a written document, addressed to the Supreme Court.
He added that “living together as partners and having same-sex sexual relations … is not comparable to the Indian concept of a family unit consisting of husband, wife and ‘children“. On Monday, the Supreme Court referred the case to a special constitutional court composed of five judges to determine whether the recognition of same-sex marriage is valid under the Constitution. The next hearing is scheduled for April 18 and will be broadcast live.
A “third kind” in 2014
“We are very pleased that this case has been referred to a constitutional court, as we consider it to be a matter of fundamental and constitutional rights.said Niharika Karanjawala, a lawyer representing one of the petitioners. Transgender people have been officially recognized as “third kindin 2014 and, three years later, the Supreme Court recognized that sexual orientation is protected by the fundamental right to privacy.
In 2018, a landmark ruling overturned a colonial-era law that prohibited same-sex sexual relations, and last year the Court ruled that unmarried partners or same-sex couples had the right to social benefits. But the rights of the LGBT community remain a sensitive topic in India’s deeply religious and conservative society.
Read alsoIndia: Supreme Court makes historic decision to decriminalize homosexuality
“What happened with the 2018 judgment is that homosexuality was decriminalised. Which means the (LGBT) community is no longer lumped together with criminals, murderers, thieves and all the restsaid Anjali Gopalan, a gay rights activist. “However, no other rights have been granted to the community, such as rights that we take for granted as citizens of this country, the most obvious of which, the right to marry“. Abhay Dang, one of the signatories of the petition, told AFP earlier this year that he and his partner were just “strangersfor each other in the eyes of the law, despite having celebrated their marriage in 2021.
SEE ALSO – Spain allows abortion from the age of 16 without parental consent and gender change from the age of 16