On Tuesday, India’s Supreme Court is set to give a ruling on petitions seeking to legalise same-sex marriage.
The petitioners say not being able to marry violates their constitutional rights and makes them “second-class citizens”.
The government and religious leaders have strongly opposed same-sex unions, saying they are against Indian culture.
If the court okays marriage equality, it will give India’s tens of millions of LGBTQ+ people the right to marry.
It would also set off momentous changes in Indian society as a lot of other laws, such as those governing adoption, divorce and inheritance, will have to be reimagined.
A five-judge constitution bench – which is set up to consider important questions of law – heard the case in April and May. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who is heading the bench, called it “a matter of seminal importance” and the deliberations were “livestreamed in public interest”. The court reserved its order on 12 May.
Justice Chandrachud had said they would not interfere with religious personal laws but look at whether a special law – that governs inter-caste and inter-faith marriages – could be amended to include LGBTQ+ people.
The debate is important in a country which is home to an estimated tens of millions of LGBTQ+ people. In 2012, the Indian government put their population at 2.5 million, but calculations using global estimates believe it to be at least 10% of the entire population – or more than 135 million.
The court heard 21 petitions filed by same-sex couples – including some who are raising children together – LGBTQ+activists and organisations.
Lawyers for the petitioners have argued that marriage is a union of two people, not just a man and woman. They say that laws should be changed to reflect changing concepts of marriage over time and that same-sex couples also desire the respectability of marriage.
In India, an overwhelming majority of marriages are held under religious personal laws such as the Muslim Marriage Act and the Hindu Marriage Act.
But they recognise weddings only between couples from their religion or caste. So, earlier if a Hindu and a Muslim wanted to marry, one of them had to convert to the other’s religion.
“This was a very problematic concept,” says lawyer Akshat Bajpai, “as it defeated the concept of personal liberty – that includes the right to practise your religion – guaranteed by the Indian constitution.”
(BBC)
