Let law not do them part

Context: Some High Courts had received petitions which argue that the state’s refusal to recognise their same-sex marriages violates their constitutional rights.

Issues faced by same-sex marriages in India:

• Prevalence of Suicide: Almost all from non-English speaking, lower-income backgrounds, who got married by religious rituals or committed joint suicide or both.

• Retaliated by Indian Values: The solicitor-general of India was recently quoted as saying that same-sex marriage is against “Indian values.”

• Disagreement over Special Marriages Act: It allows couples whose marriage may be disapproved of for any reason (inter-religion, inter-caste, different income groups) to obtain the legal rights of marriage.

• For, E.g. In 2006, Bodo tribals of Assam, asked to provide legal rights to same-sex marriages. 

• Denial of right to equality:  Two women or two men who are married by religious rites or in a foreign country do not enjoy rights that are available to male-female married couples.
• For, E.g. they cannot open a joint account, cannot make health and funeral-related decisions for each other, and cannot inherit each other’s property.

Arguments in favour of same-sex marriages:

• Cultural significance: 
• The 11th-century Sanskrit text, the Kathasaritsagara, provides the same explanation for cross-class and cross-caste couples who want to marry.
• Marriage is a union of spirits: It has been opined that the spirit (Atma) has no gender, and marriage is a union of spirits.
• International practices: In the United States (US), the first couple got their marriage registered in 1971.

Conclusion: Like the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships had done, it is now time to recognise the right of a citizen to marry anyone she chooses.