Petitions for same-sex marriages have been taken up by the Supreme Court in India. The lgbtqia+ community, activists and lawyers fought well. It is looking like there might be a positive outcome.
The present Government yet again opposed same-sex marriage. The Center labeled it as ‘elitist’ and asked the court to dismiss all petitions. The Center has urged the court to take religious sentiments and rural and semi-rural parts of India into account.
In my opinion, the present government needs to look past religious sentiment (and maybe look around) to the 10% of the Indian population who do not enjoy the same rights as heterosexual people.
Tushar Mehta in court, opposing same-sex marriages asked, ‘In case of gay marriage, who will be the wife?’
If people in the 21st century people cannot move passed gender roles and stereotypes when will they be accepting of the queer community and when can the community ask for rights.
‘There may be a minority but the majority cannot decide the rights of a minority.’
There were amazing points in favor of same-sex marriages. The community is hoping for the best and hopefully, India will be the 35th country to legalize same-sex marriages and the second in Asia (after Taiwan).
India is one of the leading countries for transgender people's rights and 41% of India believes that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. The Supreme Court taking the notion of listening to the petitions is also a big win for the lgbtqia+ community.
The question arose if the court is the correct forum to discuss a topic like 'marriage' that involves legislative functions. The Supreme Court is still the approached forum. India might be the 11th country out of 35 to legalize queer marriages by courts.
Then comes the question of procreation. The Center has called same-sex marriages ‘unnatural’ as the same -sex cannot procreate. When in reality there are so many new ways to procreate- IVF, surrogacy and adoption. Mr. KV Viswanathan wittly begged the question ‘If the purpose of marriage is to procreate then why are straight couples who cannot procreate allowed to marry?’
Sadly, the present Government is getting involved again and has asked all states and union territories to submit if they are for or against same-sex marriage. As of now, 3 states have opposed same-sex marriage and many have asked for more time to decide. This intervention makes the situation a little dull and maybe India won't be the 35th country to legalize same-sex marriage but all we can do is hope.
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