Why LGBTQ+ Indians deserve the right to marry
Live MintLast week, the government at the Centre filed an affidavit with the Delhi high court opposing the right of the LGBTQ+ community to marriage under Indian law. “Living together as partners having sexual relationship by same sex individual is not comparable with Indian family unit concept of a husband, wife children which necessarily presuppose a biological man as ‘husband’, a biological woman as ‘wife’ and children born out of union,” the affidavit said. The Centre argued further that “Parliament has designed and framed the marriage laws in the country, which are governed by the personal laws/codified laws relatable to customs of various religious communities, to recognise only the union of a man and a woman to be capable of religious sanction.thereby claim legal and statutory sanction.” This line of reasoning is not only exclusionary, it ignores the provisions made in the Special Marriage Act, allowing for secular unions. Lounge speaks to Saurabh Kirpal, one of the lawyers who argued the case that led to the reading down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code in 2018, and who is fighting for the community’s right to marriage.