Video Producer: Mayank Chawla
Video Editor: Mohd. Irshad Alam
Yeh Jo India Hai Na, Here, should fellow Indians from our queer community be treated as 2nd class citizens? NO! But when top BJP leader, Sushil Modi, says in Parliament that same-sex marriages should not get legal recognition, we are denying our queer community legal rights that other Indian citizens enjoy.
In 2018, India scrapped Section 377 and did the right thing- recognising sexual autonomy, recognising same-sex relationships.
The next logical step should be to legalise same-sex marriages. Why?
Because it would give gay couples the same rights as heterosexual couples in matters like inheritance, maintenance, adoption, health, insurance, tax benefits, pension, protection from domestic violence, and more. Without these crucial legal rights, they would remain 2nd class citizens of India.
At present four gay couples have petitioned the Supreme Court to legally recognise same-sex marriages.
The court has asked the government to respond. In the past, the law ministry has opposed same-sex marriages, saying - marriage in India across communities is based on "age-old customs” and same-sex relationships are "not comparable with the Indian family unit”.
‘LEFT LIBERALS PANDERING TO THE WEST’: SUSHIL MODI
Sushil Modi also said that the call for legalising same sex marriages is coming from ‘left-liberals pandering to the West’. But, Leftists hate Capitalists, so why would our ‘leftists’ pander to western capitalists.
As a matter of fact, India has often embraced progressive laws from the West. Biggest example, our Constitution.
To my mind, these are excuses to hide our queerphobia, our homophobia.
The same homophobia that has stopped senior advocate Saurabh Kirpal, who is openly gay, from becoming a Delhi High Court judge for over five years. Kirpal says the government has obstructed his appointment only due to his sexual orientation
But you know what, sections of the queer community have a possible solution. Some of them don’t subscribe to the idea of marriage and the traditional family. They say, legally, why don’t you just recognise our same-sex relationships, as they are. And give us legal rights, legal protection just as you provide to those in a marriage, or even to those in live-in relationships.
Is it a thought worth debating in Parliament? Of course, why not? RecogniSing and legalising other forms of kinship, would be even more progressive.
And I say, that Yeh Jo India Hai Na, which has often surprised the world with its progressiveness and tolerance, for instance our liberal abortion laws, we could surprise the world again, shed our homophobia, our queer phobia, in one stroke, and truly embrace the millions who make up India’s queer community!
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)