Indian gay upl fight for same-sex marriage rights at Supreme Court | South Cha Morng Post

Contents:

• FOUR UPL ARE PETNG INDIA'S SUPREME COURT TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• INDIAN GAY UPL BEG LEGAL BATTLE FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE SE ULD BRG GOLD SH TO INDIAN WEDDG DTRY
• GAY MARRIAGES IN INDIA: LEGAL RECOGNITION OF SAME SEX BY LAW

FOUR UPL ARE PETNG INDIA'S SUPREME COURT TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE

Four upl are petng India's Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage. Now, four gay and lbian upl are petng India's Supreme Court to take the next step: Legalize gay marriage. JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: Five years ago, India crimalized gay sex, and now some gay and lbian upl are petng the Supreme Court to take the next step - legalizg gay marriage.

(SOUNDBITE OF ICE CLINKING IN GLASS)RAKSHA KUMAR, BYLINE: San Dias pours herself a drk and reflects on how far she and her partner have e as a gay uple tradnal DIAS: Whatever fears I might have had g out, I live a good life wh my fay, my iends, lleagu, neighbors.

Gay marriage is a foreign ncept, a BJP lawmaker, Shil Modi, who has no relatn to the prime mister, told Parliament December. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)SUSHIL MODI: The same-sex marriage or the lbian or the gay marriage has not been regnized, and is ntrary to the Indian ethos, Indian culture, Indian Not all Hdu natnalists share that view, though.

INDIAN GAY UPL BEG LEGAL BATTLE FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Gay marriage proponents and upl like San and Adi recently got support om someone they least expected - the head of the most powerful Hdu natnalist anizatn India, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)MOHAN BHAGWAT: (Non-English language spoken) "Gay people are a part of our society and have the right to live the way they want to, " the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, said a vio posted onle last month, signalg his support for same-sex marriag. The Supreme Court 2018 stck down a lonial-era law that ma gay sex punishable by up to 10 years prison, and is now hearg arguments a se to legalize same-sex marriage.

They had even taken him to a Hdu fah healer who promised to rid the boy of his homosexualy — by any means possible. "My son and I have always been close and I thought, given how difficult he found to tell me, what mt children homophobic and transphobic fai be gog through? She answered their qutns about homosexualy.

"I told the uncle that if he was so nvced the fah healer, then to ask the mystic to turn him gay, too, then heterosexual aga. Through floods of tears, he me out to her as gay. " 18 upl have petned the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage Dai's reactn to her son tellg her he was gay was so remarkable that her phone number quickly circulated among members of Mumbai's LGBTQ+ muny.

GAY MARRIAGE SE ULD BRG GOLD SH TO INDIAN WEDDG DTRY

Some of India's biggt silver-screen stars have played queer rol, cludg Rajkummar Rao, who played a gay police officer the 2022 film Badhaai Do, and Sonam Kapoor, who played a lbian 2019's Ek Ladki Dekha Toh Aisa Laga. In 2020, a Pew Rearch Center study reported that 37% of rponnts India said that "homosexualy should be accepted by society, " up om 15% 2014.

Except no one else knew about the gay uple’s was 2008. Homosexualy was yet to ga a gree of acceptance eply nservative India, wh many gay upl facg stigma and isolatn.

GAY MARRIAGES IN INDIA: LEGAL RECOGNITION OF SAME SEX BY LAW

So Saxena and Kotia took their time, watchg om a distance how people’s acceptance of homosexualy was changg. Over the years, as Indian society beme more acceptg of homosexualy and much of the untry’s LGBTQ muny began celebratg their sexualy openly, the uple cid to make their relatnship known to their iends and fay.

Three other gay upl have filed siar petns that will be heard by the untry’s top urt March.