July 17, 2026

Same-Sex Marriages Must Be Accorded Legal Sanction

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2022-12-22 04:03:04

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

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Is India ready to legalize marriage between same-sex couples? There are two parallel things happening in this matter. The Supreme Court has taken up the plea by two same-sex couples who have asked for the State to legalize their union as not doing so violates their Constitutional rights. It has sought reply from the Centre. On the other hand, the matter was raised by BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi in Parliament. Modi argued that courts should not be allowed to decide on the matter and Parliament should debate and pass a law against same-sex marriages as such marriages, if allowed, would disturb the "delicate balance" of personal laws.

There is no doubt that legalizing same-sex marriages will need a huge shift in thinking in society. Indian society, steeped in patriarchy, is still not ready to accept that a marriage can be for any other purpose than for the woman to bear children for the family. It is not yet ready to accept something that goes against what has been considered as 'perfect' and accepted down the ages. It has not accepted homosexuality even though it was decriminalized in 2018 and same-sex couples are still subjected to harassment and ridicule.

But since homosexuality has been decriminalized and same-sex couples can, theoretically and legally, stay together, the next logical step is to legally recognize their union and grant them all rights enjoyed by opposite-sex couples. That is their fundamental and Constitutional right. If the delicate balance of personal laws will be disturbed in granting same-sex couples this right, as Sushil Modi said, so be it. For, social morality which comes in the way of progressive legislation has to go. The government will have to suitably alter all laws (for example adoption and inheritance laws) to factor in same-sex marriages. Society has to change its view and come out of the patriarchal and conservative mindset. It has to accept that it cannot deny fundamental rights to persons just because their sexual orientation is different from the majority or what is considered 'socially correct'.