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Indian couples begin legal battle for same-sex marriage : NPR


Indian couple Utkarsh Saxena, left, and Ananya Kotia, chat inside a public park in New Delhi, India, January 18, 2023. The couple, now 15 years in love, along with three other couples have filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India seeking to legalize same-sex marriage.

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Indian couple Utkarsh Saxena, left, and Ananya Kotia, chat inside a public park in New Delhi, India, January 18, 2023. The couple, now 15 years in love, along with three other couples have filed a petition with the Supreme Court of India seeking to legalize same-sex marriage.

Altaf Qadri/AP

NEW DELHI – Utkarsh Saxena and Ananya Kotia’s love story begins like any other college romance. Except no one else knew about the gay couple’s relationship.

It was 2008. Homosexuality was still not accepted at a deeply conservative level in India, with many gay couples facing stigma and isolation. So Saxena and Kotia took their time, watching from a distance how people’s acceptance of homosexuality was changing.

“We’re actually pretty scared of the consequences,” said Saxena, a public policy scholar at the University of Oxford. “We’re so fragile and vulnerable, a young couple getting to know themselves, and you know, something drastic like this can break us in a way.”

Over the years, as Indian society became more accepting of homosexuality and much of the country’s LGBTQ community began to celebrate their sexuality openly, the couple decided to go public with their relationship. them with friends and family. Most of them accepted.

Now, after 15 years of love, they have taken up a bigger challenge and applied to the Supreme Court of India seeking to legalize same-sex marriage. Three other same-sex couples have also filed similar petitions to be heard by the country’s top court in March.

If legalized, India will become the second economy in Asia after Taiwan recognizes same-sex marriage, an important right for the country’s LGBTQ community more than four years after the supreme court decriminalized homosexuality. A favorable ruling would also make India the largest democracy with such rights available to LGBTQ couples but goes against the position of the ruling Hindu nationalist government, which oppose same-sex marriage.

“Our relationship, in a social sense, isn’t defined for a long time so we want it to be accepted just like any other couple’s relationship,” Saxena said.

The legal rights of LGBTQ people in India have expanded over the past decade, and most of these changes have resulted from the intervention of the Supreme Court.

In 2014, courts legally recognized non-bisexuals or transgenders as a “third gender” and three years later an individual’s sexual orientation became an essential attribute of human rights. their privacy. The historic ruling in 2018 overturned a colonial-era law that made gay sex punishable by up to 10 years in prison, extending constitutional rights to the gay community. The decision was seen as a landmark victory for gay rights, with one judge saying it would “pave the way to a better future.”

Despite this progress, the legal recognition of same-sex marriage has faced opposition from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

In a court filing last year, they said same-sex marriage would cause “utter devastation to the delicate balance of individual law in the country.” Sushil Modi, a lawmaker from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, told Parliament in December that such marriages would “go against the cultural ethos of the country” and the decision on it should not be left to the public. “several judges”.

However, India’s Supreme Court has signaled that it may challenge the government’s position.

In January, its panel – which includes the Chief Justice of India and two Judges – said the government opposes the nomination of a gay judge in part because of his sexual orientation. The federal government of India has not responded to the allegations.

Gay couples and LGBTQ activists argue that by refusing to recognize same-sex marriage, the government is depriving same-sex couples of their constitutional rights and opportunities. Married heterosexual couples are entitled.

“Basically, you need to be treated equally like any other citizen. It’s not a special right that is asked for, it’s just a right that every other citizen has,” said Ruth Vanita, research expert. gender researcher and author of the book “Love’s”. Rite: Same-sex marriage in India and the West.”

In India, marriage is governed by a different set of laws suitable for the country’s religious groups and a secular law for inter-religious couples known as the Special Marriage Act. All restrict the marriage of men and women.

With no legal support for same-sex marriage, many couples say they have faced many barriers.

Ruth Vanita, a gender expert and author of “Love Rites: Same-sex Marriage in India and the West” edits the book at her home in Gurgaon, India, May 27. 1 year 2023.

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Ruth Vanita, a gender expert and author of “Love Rites: Same-sex Marriage in India and the West” edits the book at her home in Gurgaon, India, May 27. 1 year 2023.

Piyush Nagpal/AP

Indian law restricts property ownership and inheritance to LGBTQ individuals. Gay and lesbian couples are not allowed to give birth with the help of an Indian surrogate mother. And LGBTQ people can only apply for adoption as single parents.

Many such couples believe that legal recognition of same-sex marriage will not only be an important step towards equality, but will also lead to more people coming out as gay and strengthening their relationship with their partners. government.

“We want the state to recognize marriage as an institution for same-sex couples… to be accepted at the societal level,” said Kotia, an economics scholar at the London School of Economics.

Homosexuality has long been stigmatized by traditional Indian society, although there has been a shift in attitudes towards same-sex couples in recent years. India currently has openly gay celebrities and several popular Bollywood films have dealt with gay issues. According to a Pew survey, the acceptance of homosexuality in India increased by 22 percentage points to 37% between 2013 and 2019.

But many same-sex couples continue to face harassment in many Indian communities, whether Hindu, Muslim or Christian.

In December, India’s LGBTQ community received support from an unexpected quarter.

The head of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu nationalist group that is the ideological organization of Modi’s party, said LGBTQ people are “a part of Indian society” and that Indian civilization has a tradition. community recognition system. Mohan Bhagwat’s comments, which could force the government to reevaluate its position, are a departure from the group’s longstanding position on homosexuality, which has a troubled history in India. , although some of the oldest Hindu texts accept same-sex couples. .

“In the West, up until the 19th century, people were executed for homosexuality, or sent to prison. India, as far as we know, has no such history. We always write. about it (homosexuality), talk about it and discuss it,” Vanita said.

Without the legal right to marry, many LGBTQ couples still attend engagement ceremonies, especially in big cities. Such marriages are not legally binding under Indian law, but that does not prevent them from performing traditional Indian wedding ceremonies.

Saxena and Kotia said they are also planning, preferably if the court rules in their favor.

“I think we want a big wedding. Our relatives, family and friends want an even bigger wedding,” Saxena said.

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