India : The Supreme Court Declines to Rule on Same-Sex “Marriage”

India Supreme Court Declines Same-Sex Marriage in India

To understand the context of this decision, it is essential to refer to a previous article I wrote, which explores in detail the challenges and prospects of same-sex marriages in India.

A setback for the judicialization of societal issues in India : After the Indian Supreme Court has, as of October 17, declined to rule on the legality of same-sex “marriage,” passing the responsibility to legislate to the parliamentarians.

In India, the BJP government is staunchly opposed to unions of same-sex individuals. Naturally, the parliament (the Lok Sabha), chaired by Om Birla of the BJP, holds the same stance.

Aware of this reality, LGBT activists attempted to bypass the elected political power and forcefully invoke the judiciary. This maneuver has failed. It’s worth recalling that LGBT activists achieved a preliminary victory through the same means in 2018 when the Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality.

However, a small victory for the LGBT minority: the Supreme Court has affirmed that two men or two women can marry if one of them identifies as “transsexual.”

The White Man is the absolute symbol of the “heteronormative patriarchy,” yet oddly, there is only one country in Asia where same-sex marriage is legalized to date : Taiwan. In Muslim countries of Asia or those with a significant Muslim community, the issue is simply unimaginable.