Indian judges look at same-sex nuptials
India’s supreme court has agreed to consider a petition that seeks legal recognition of samesex marriage.
This development could build on a string of rulings expanding protection for the LGBTQ community.
The petition, filed earlier in November by a couple, evoked India’s Special Marriage Act, a law that originally legalised interfaith unions.
The couple drew on earlier landmark rulings in India, including one declaring privacy a fundamental right and another that decriminalised gay sex in 2018. Legalising same-sex marriage in India would run counter to a number of global challenges. Earlier in 2022, Singapore scrapped criminal penalties for gay sex, but stopped short of allowing marriage.
And in the US, legislators are considering federal recognition of same-sex marriage, spurred by concern that a more conservative supreme court might strike down its 2015 ruling to legalise the unions.
In India, the petitioners have argued that barring them from marriage violates their right to equality. They told the court that the ability to marry has implications for personal liberty, adoption and financial matters.
The supreme court, headed by chief justice DY Chandrachud, has given the government four weeks to take a stance on the issue.
The case is not without precedent. The Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposed legal recognition of same-sex marriage under the Hindu Marriage Act in another case that sought similar relief from a lower court.
According to government lawyers, permitting same-sex marriages would go against cultural values in Indian society. In 2018, however, the government did not take a stand on decriminalising gay sex, leaving the court to decide.
India’s supreme court has been increasingly open to hearing cases related to LGBTQ rights. Earlier this year, a group of judges including Chandrachud ruled that nontraditional families are entitled to protection.
This ruling, while not directly aimed at the LGBTQ community, created space for these households to receive benefits under social welfare legislation.