India’s Supreme Court rejects legalization of same-sex marriage, emphasizes LGBTQ rights
India’s highest court has declined to legally recognize same-sex marriages, disappointing campaigners seeking equal rights for the LGBTQ community under Indian law.
The verdict was delivered by a five-judge constitution bench led by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, with the announcement streamed live across the nation, drawing crowds outside the court who watched on their cellphones.
During the two-hour ruling, Chief Justice Chandrachud acknowledged that queerness is a “natural phenomenon” and called upon the government to ensure that the queer community is protected from discrimination based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. Justice S. Ravindra Bhat noted that LGBTQ couples’ right to choose their partners was not contested but clarified that this right doesn’t automatically grant them legal entitlement to marriage status.
Justice Bhat suggested the formation of a “high-powered committee” to evaluate laws that indirectly discriminate against LGBTQ couples by denying them legal benefits and social welfare entitlements typically associated with marriage. He stressed that the judiciary cannot undertake this complex task and called for the state to study the impact of existing policies and entitlements.
India’s current marriage laws prevent LGBTQ couples from accessing legal benefits related to matters like adoption, insurance, and inheritance. More than a dozen petitioners challenged these laws, bringing their case to the Supreme Court following hearings in April and May.
Susan Dias, one of the petitioners, expressed her disappointment with the verdict. The ruling government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had opposed calls for legalizing same-sex marriages. Solicitor Tushar Mehta, the government’s lawyer, had argued that same-sex marriage was an “urban” and “elitist” concept that did not align with the country’s social ethos.
Although Hindu mythology contains references to gender fluidity and third gender characters, same-sex intercourse was criminalized and marriage rights were restricted to heterosexual couples in a penal code introduced during India’s colonial era in 1860. In 2018, the Supreme Court decriminalized same-sex intercourse, but the legislation limiting marriage to heterosexual couples remained intact.
The rejection of same-sex marriage legalization reveals a conflict between India’s colonial-era laws and the efforts of the current ruling party, led by Narendra Modi, to assert India’s independence from its colonial past. Top religious leaders from various organizations reiterated their belief that marriage is for procreation, further emphasizing the ongoing debate over LGBTQ rights in the country.
