Four upl are petng India's Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage : NPR

Contents:

• GAY UPL INDIA ASK SUPREME COURT TO LEGALISE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• FOUR UPL ARE PETNG INDIA'S SUPREME COURT TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
• ‘GAY SEX IS NOT A CRIME,’ SAYS SUPREME COURT HISTORIC JUDGMENT
• INDIA'S ANTI-GAY SEX RULG CASTS LIGHT ON OTHER COUNTRI WH ANTI-GAY LAWS

GAY UPL INDIA ASK SUPREME COURT TO LEGALISE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

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. "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? "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.

" 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. 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.

"I'm very optimistic and have great fah the judiciary, " Ms Guswamy, whose team is reprentg six same-sex unn s urt, told the of her optimism e om readg the December 2018 judgement that crimalised gay sex - "the thg that stck me most was that the urt emphasised the right to choice of partner and that mak me very optimistic", she said. "Homosexualy is not a disease, " the IPS said, addg that discrimatn agast LGBTQ+ people uld "lead to mental health issu them" IPS statement rri some heft - a siar statement supportg crimalisg gay sex 2018 had been referred to by the Supreme Court s judgement.

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

It is the latt a seri of urt cisns to challenge the untry’s nservative mor, and uld have major implitns for the rights of women and gay urt led favor of Deepika Sgh, a nurse whose employer, a ernment medil stute northern India, had nied her applitn for materny leave after she gave birth bee she had already taken leave to re for her hband’s children om a prev marriage. In recent years, the urt has creasgly phed back agast India’s societal norms on genr and sexualy, an apparent nod to the fact that many Indians themselv are rejectg those a landmark lg 2014, the urt regnized transgenr people as a third genr servg equal accs to legal protectns and social welfare Supreme Court crimalized homosexualy 2018, overturng one of the world’s olst bans on nsensual gay September, the urt opened the door for women to pursue ary reers at the hight levels, and May, orred the police to rpect the right for women to engage the groundbreakg lg on homosexualy, activists have been petng urts to legalize gay marriage, and to extend the benefs of marriage to same-sex domtic partnerships, as well as to allow same-sex upl to foster and adopt effort has bumped up agast a plex approach to acmodatg India’s relig India, marriage is erned by a set of relig, personal laws, which date to the lonial era and vary among fahs, and by a secular law lled the Special Marriage Act. On Monday, the Supreme Court of India said a five-judge bench will start hearg fal arguments over grantg legal regnn to same-sex marriag on April 18, proceedgs of which will be livtreamed on s webse and the urt l favour of legalizg same-sex marriage, will be a landmark moment for LGBTQ people India and the entire majory of the 32 untri and terrori that have already enacted marriage equaly laws are the Ameris and Europe — and, when to relign, are predomantly Christian — so a posive oute India uld fluence laws elsewhere the the seChakraborty and Dang were one of two upl who ially petned the Supreme Court to change the law — the other is Parth Phiroze Mehrotra and Uday Raj Anand, a gay uple New Delhi — but the number of petners has sce grown, and the Supreme Court has also transferred several s om other high urts, cludg those Delhi and petn argu that India's Special Marriage Act, 1954 should allow same-sex upl to have the same legal right to marriage as oppose sex upl and that nyg them that right vlat several articl of India's Special Marriage Act solemniz marriage outsi of the relign or fah of eher spoe, as opposed to unns registered unr laws related to relig unns, such as the Hdu Marriage Act, It HappensTennsee law rtrictg drag is the 1st of many such proposed bills the U.

Sgapore to repeal lonial-era law banng sex between menPri celebratns happeng war-torn Kharkiv as LGBTQ muny fights for rights"The urts are not bound by popular opn, " said Shep Sgh, the founr and director of the Indian onle LGBTQ magaze Gaylaxy. "WATCH | LGBTQ muny India marks 2018 crimalizatn of homosexualy: Gay sex ban overturned IndiaCBC News spoke to members of the Indo-Canadian muny to fd out what the historic lg means to of rights brgs bra draPolil and societal chang haven't happened quickly enough for many LGBTQ Indians, who have opted to rettle more progrsive untri. He referred to a 2014 World Bank se study, tled The Enomic Cost of Homophobia, that timated India may be sacrificg up to 1.

Conservative phback expectedA urt cisn allowg same-sex marriage is not likely to benef everyone the same way, utned Sgh, of the magaze Gaylaxy.

‘GAY SEX IS NOT A CRIME,’ SAYS SUPREME COURT HISTORIC JUDGMENT

"Shep Sgh, the founr and director of the Indian onle LGBTQ magaze Gaylaxy, says a urt cisn allowg same-sex marriage is not likely to benef everyone the same way, pecially women who are poor. (Submted by Shep Sgh)Women, pecially those who are poor, face different stggl Indian society, Sgh said, while men "whether gay or straight, they have a lot of leeway. Notably, this same urt granted certa rights to the transgenr muny 2014, clared privacy a nstutnal right 2017, crimalized gay sex 2018 and expand protectns for "atypil" fai 2022.

The Indian Psychiatric Society, the untry's largt anizatn of mental health profsnals, issued a statement last week reeratg that homosexualy is not a disease and that nyg people their civil rights may lead to mental health issu. That claratn uld be signifint, the BBC not: The Supreme Court's judgement crimalizg gay sex referred to a statement of support om the same anizatn.

The Pew Rearch Center found that 37% of Indian people said homosexualy should be accepted by society 2019, a large jump om jt 15% 2014. India's Supreme Court 2018 stck down a lonial-era law that ma gay sex punishable by up to 10 years prison but has yet to legalize same-sex marriag. India crimalized gay sex five years ago Dias and Anand were born an India that held onto a Brish lonial-era law crimalizg homosexualy.

INDIA'S ANTI-GAY SEX RULG CASTS LIGHT ON OTHER COUNTRI WH ANTI-GAY LAWS

A powerful right-wg figure has exprsed support for LGBTQ rights Sce there is no legal regnn of same-sex marriage, gay upl whose fai threaten them wh vlence bee they are opposed to gay relatnships have no protectn unr the law. Earlier this year, Bhagwat said that gay people are a part of Indian society and have the right to live the way they want to.

Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the most powerful Hdu natnalist anizatn, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, said an terview that gay people are a part of Indian society and have the right to live the way they want to. ” India has ma signifint stris advancg LGBTQ+ rights recent years, wh the Supreme Court crimalizg homosexualy a landmark lg 2018.

But homosexualy and same-sex marriage still rema taboo topics the socially nservative untry led by Prime Mister Narendra Modi, whose ernment has largely opposed the issue—argug that the matter should be cid parliament. In recent years, the urt has held up dividual eedoms, cludg strikg down a ban on nsensual gay sex, grantg rights to India’s margalized transgenr muny and clarg privacy as a nstutnal right of all is unclear how long the urt will take to reach a cisn, but a lg favor of the petners would make India an outlier for gay rights Asia, where most untri still outlaw same-sex ’s nservative Hdu-natnalist ernment is opposed to legalizg the unns, and a urt filg on Monday, lled same-sex marriage an “urban elist ncept far removed om the social ethos of the untry. Modi’s lg Bharatiya Janata Party, and s iologil parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak many members of India’s lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny say they ntue to lead margalized Patel, a 43-year-old human rourc executive Mumbai, who suffered sexual abe as a child and is one of the petners, ma a blunt plea for marriage equaly.

In a 5-0 landmark cisn, the Supreme Court of India crimalized gay nsensual sex and expand the dividual right to privacy to clu sexual orientatn. The cisn exceed the hop of India’s LGBT muny, as the Court led that gay Indians shall be provid all the protectns of the Indian Constutn. REUTERS/Anhree FadnavisSummarySupreme Court to hear gay marriage se JanuaryFour gay upl say nied basic fundamental rightsModi ernment has opposed same-sex marriageCase seen as key tt for Modi ernmentNEW DELHI, Dec 19 (Rters) - Four gay upl have asked India's Supreme Court to regnise same-sex marriag, settg the stage for a legal face-off wh Prime Mister Narendra Modi's ernment which has the past refed to legalise such a historic verdict 2018, India's top urt crimalised homosexualy by scrappg a lonial-era ban on gay sex.

Dpe the 2018 lg, members of India's lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny pla about a lack of acceptance and discrimatn agast gay people Indian activists say that while 2018 lg affirmed their nstutnal rights, they are still prived of legal backg for same-sex marriag, a basic right enjoyed by heterosexual married three Supreme Court filgs seen by Rters, the upl say that whout legal regnn of beg married, they are nied rights such as those lked to medil nsent, pensns, adoptn or even simpler thgs like club memberships for upl. "In tth, they have no rights at all, " the filg four gay upl want a Supreme Court lg that modifi or terprets laws a way that allows same-genr marriag, the urt filgs is a sensive subject the socially nservative untry of 1.

4 billn people, where speakg openly about homosexualy is taboo for pleas have already triggered a bate on prime-time TV news and generated edorials newspapers whether the time has e for the world's largt mocracy to jo roughly three dozen untri where such marriag are Uned Stat this month approved legislatn that provis feral regnn to same-sex marriag a bid to further safeguard gay Indian Supreme Court s, which follow many lawsus filed lower urts where no cisn was reached, will be a key tt for Modi's Hdu natnalist ernment and his Monday, a feral lawmaker om Modi's party appealed to lleagu the upper hoe of parliament to oppose legal regnn of marriage between same-sex upl. "Backg the upl are high-profile lawyers cludg one of India's former Attorney Generals and another unsel named Srabh Kirpal, who is openly gay and an terview last month acced Modi's ernment of layg his elevatn as a state judge due to his sexual and Modi's office did not rpond to a requt for ment on those remarks.

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. 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.