A new survey by Washington-based Pew Research Center, released on 13 June, found that 53 percent of Indians are in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.
This is particularly significant as the Narendra Modi-led central government has been opposing marriage equality in response to a batch of pleas filed in the Supreme Court earlier this year.
The think tank's Spring 2023 Global Attitudes Survey was conducted among 3,500 Americans and over 27,000 non-US residents between March and May this year. India is in the top three countries surveyed for the study, in terms of the percentage of population.
Among those surveyed, 28 percent 'strongly favour' and 25 percent 'somewhat favour' the legal recognition of same-sex marriages. On the other hand, 43 percent 'totally oppose' such unions while 31 percent 'strongly oppose' them. At least 12 percent of those surveyed 'somewhat oppose' same-sex marriages, while 4 percent chose to leave the question unanswered.