India: Supreme Court wants to announce decision on gay marriage

The Supreme Court in India will announce its verdict on Tuesday on the question of whether same-sex marriages should be allowed in the South Asian country. The court announced this on its website on Monday evening. Several couples had previously turned to the court to obtain a legal settlement. If recognized, patriarchal India could become one of the few non-Western countries to allow gay marriage. With its 1.4 billion inhabitants, India is also the most populous country in the world – so the ruling affects a particularly large number of people.

India has so far been conservative when it comes to marriage issues

The government of the Hindu nationalist BJP party had previously taken a conservative stance on the issue of same-sex marriage. She argued that in Indian culture, marriage should be between a woman and a man and the issue should be discussed in Parliament and not in the court.

The plaintiffs argued in court, among other things, that marriage was important to them because it included other important rights such as joint bank accounts, inheritance or adoption.

Recently, the situation of LGBTQ rights in India has changed. Just a few years ago, consensual homosexual sex was punishable there. In 2018, the Supreme Court overturned this provision, which dates back to the British colonial period. Nevertheless, the LGBTQ community continues to complain about stigmatization in society and many families do not want their children to be part of the community.

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