India’s Supreme Court began its third day of hearings on the legality of same-sex marriage on Wednesday. The constitution bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra is weighing the legal merits of a plea for decriminalising homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The debate on Wednesday looked at whether personal laws would need to be amended if same-sex marriage was legalised. The historic hearings mark the first time the court has considered the issue since it reinstated a colonial-era ban on “unnatural sex” in 2013. The government has said it will leave the decision to the court’s discretion.
One argument against same-sex marriage has been that it only affects a small, educated and financially privileged part of Indian society. However, Chief Justice Misra said on Wednesday there was no data to back up such claims. “Where is the empirical study to show that only a minuscule part of India’s population constitutes the LGBT community?” he asked.
Meanwhile, filmmaker and author Vivek Agnihotri wrote in The Indian Express that it was time for India to take the lead in creating an open, progressive society around LGBTQ rights. He reasoned that India’s diverse religious and cultural mix made it an ideal candidate to forge a new path in this area. “India has been the land of invention,” Agnihotri wrote. “We should take up this challenge of creating a modern, liberal and forward-looking blueprint for our society.”
Should same-sex marriage be legalised, India would become the latest country in a growing international trend. Around 25 nations have changed their constitutions or amended their laws to allow for marriage equality. Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage by referendum in 2015, followed by Colombia, Finland and Malta. The most recent vote took place in May, when Australia overwhelmingly voted in favour of same-sex marriage after a postal survey.
However, some countries have gone in the opposite direction, including Rwanda, which in 2007 criminalised homosexuality, and Tanzania, where same-sex conduct was made punishable by life imprisonment in 2014. Despite this, many countries still offer same-sex couples the opportunity to enter into civil partnerships or to register their relationships. The UK, for instance, has had civil partnerships since 2004, while a civil partnership bill is currently being considered in the Brazilian parliament.
