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India's top court refuses to legalize same-sex marriages

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Abhaya SRIVASTAVA, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A supporter of the LGBTQ community takes part in the Chennai Rainbow Pride Parade to celebrate Pride Month, in Chennai, India, June 25, 2023. Idrees Mohammed, EPA-EFE/File." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/overseas/10/17/10172023-supporter-of-the-lgbtq-community_epa.jpg"/><figcaption>A supporter of the LGBTQ community takes part in the Chennai Rainbow Pride Parade to celebrate Pride Month, in Chennai, India, June 25, 2023. Idrees Mohammed, EPA-EFE/File.</figcaption></figure></div>NEW DELHI, India -- India&#x27;s top court refused on Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriages but said the country had a duty to acknowledge LGBTQ relationships and to protect them from discrimination.Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#x27;s government has opposed moves to legally codify same-sex partnerships in the five years since the Supreme Court struck down colonial-era laws banning gay sex.Lawyers for several same-sex couples urged the court earlier this year to grant their relationships full legal recognition, but the five-member bench ruled that extending marriage equality was a parliamentary decision.&quot;It lies within the domain of parliament and state legislatures to determine the law on marriage,&quot; Supreme Court Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said during his verdict.The court&#x27;s ruling held that the fundamental right to marriage for same-sex couples was not guaranteed by India&#x27;s constitution under existing law.It did grant marriage rights to couples where one or both members were transgender, provided one participant in the union identified as a man and the other as a woman.Chandrachud added that India still had a duty to acknowledge same-sex relationships and protect those in them from discrimination.&quot;Our ability to feel love and affection for one another makes us feel human,&quot; he said from the bench.&quot;This court has recognized that equality demands that queer unions and queer persons are not discriminated against.&quot;The verdict was greeted with sadness and disappointment by a crowd gathered outside the court who had hoped to celebrate India becoming the second Asian jurisdiction after Taiwan to legalize same-sex marriages.&quot;We are not satisfied with whatever the court has said&quot;, Siddhant Kumar, 27, told AFP.&quot;This has been going on for years, we have been struggling for legal recognition,&quot; he added. &quot;We have to remain strong and continue our fight.&quot;The petitioners had said validating same-sex marriage would help them access some of the legal benefits of matrimony, including adoption, insurance and inheritance.<div>- &#x27;Complete havoc&#x27; -</div>But Modi&#x27;s Hindu nationalist government has staunchly opposed same-sex marriage, and insisted that any change was up to parliament and not the courts.&quot;Any interference... would cause a complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws in the country and in accepted societal values&quot;, the government said in its submission.&quot;Living together as partners and having sexual relationship by same sex individuals... is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children&quot;, it added.Siddhant Rai, 20, who was among the crowd outside the court, said he did not expect any official endorsement of same-sex marriage under Modi&#x27;s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).&quot;I am disheartened by today&#x27;s ruling,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;As long as the BJP is there in power I don&#x27;t see a judgement coming in our favor in the near future.&quot;Marriages are governed by family laws for specific religions, such as the Muslim Marriage Act and the Hindu Marriage Act.A landmark ruling in 2018 struck down the British colonial-era law criminalising gay sex, and last year the court ruled that unmarried partners or same-sex couples were entitled to welfare benefits.Acceptance of gay couples grew in the wake of the 2018 ruling. A Pew survey in June suggested 53 percent of Indian adults favoured same-sex marriage while 43 percent opposed it.But leaders from all of India&#x27;s main religions -- Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh and Christian -- also oppose same sex union, with several of them insisting that marriage &quot;is for procreation, not recreation&quot;.More than 30 countries allow same-sex marriage while others recognise same-sex civil unions.While much of Asia is tolerant of homosexuality, Taiwan became the first in the region to allow gay marriage after a landmark ruling by its Constitutional Court in 2017.Vietnam, Thailand and Nepal have also taken steps towards the recognition of same-sex partnerships.<div>© Agence France-Presse</div>

India's top court refused on Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriages but said the country had a duty to acknowledge LGBTQ relationships.

India's top court refuses to legalize same-sex marriages

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India's top court refuses to legalize same-sex marriages

Abhaya SRIVASTAVA,

Agence France-Presse

Published Oct 17, 2023 05:30 PM PHT

Read More:

LGBTQ

same-sex marriage

India

Narendra Modi

India Supreme Court

LGBTQ rights

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