Same-sex marriage: Centre to set up a panel to look into LGBTQIA+ community issues

• Image Credit: Google

• May 3, 2023 | Dhupali Das

The Central Government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it will constitute a committee led by the Cabinet Secretary to investigate...

Digital Desk: The Central Government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that it will constitute a committee led by the Cabinet Secretary to investigate the difficulties faced by same-sex couples. The Centre stated that the panel will investigate and will examine the LGBTQIA community's suggestions regarding their worries when in cohabitory relationships with people of the same gender, according to Bar and Bench. During the hearing of the petitions looking to legalize same-sex marriages, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta made the following submissions. 

"The matter was some real human concerns, and the discussion was whether something administratively could be done. The government is positive. This would necessitate collaboration between many ministries. "A committee will be formed, led by the cabinet secretary, to address the petitioners' suggestions," he stated, as quoted by Bar and Bench. 

Notably, a Supreme Court Constitution Bench has been examining a slew of petitions seeking the official recognition of same-sex marriages in India. The bench is chaired by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and includes Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, PS Narasimha, and Hima Kohli. 

The batch of petitions sought legal recognition of same-sex marriages under the law, saying that the freedom to marry the person of one's choice should extend to LGBTQIA+ individuals as well. The petitions have been opposed by the central government. 

The Central government stated in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court that living together as partners and having sexual relationships with same-sex individuals is not analogous to the Indian family unit concept. 

The supreme court on Thursday emphasised that same-sex couples' social cohabitation must receive some "acknowledgment" in the law and learned how far to go in adopting "authoritative" steps to ensure that they obtain social security and welfare benefits - even in the absence of marriage-related permission.

"Once you believe that same-sex couples have the right to cohabit, the State has a duty to at least recognise that cohabitation...These are desires of the people that need to be acknowledged as a welfare state and a democratic state. "What, then, can the State do?" the bench asked. 

Meanwhile, in an open letter to the President, Droupadi Murmu, a group of former judges, IPS officers, and government officials "demand involvement for the saving of Indian heritage, religious tenets and social values."

"...If we change the law to make same-sex relationships rational, acceptable, or moral, we will allow same-sex sexual culture to flourish. Our society and culture do not embrace the same-sex behavioural structures because it is offensive to our values and irrational and unnatural," read the open letter. 

"It is well-established that same-sex relationships cannot create long-term or stable institutions; and if they are permitted to adopt children, they are unable to maintain stable and long-term relationships with their families, parents, relatives, and partners. Such children's health and future will be seriously jeopardized, the letter added.

"India cannot allow its future generations to live in an environment like this, which would undoubtedly breed more homosexuals and lesbians and irreversibly rip apart and demolish the structures of "family" and "society." They won't be aware of their parents, heritage, culture, religious beliefs, or time-honored morals," the letter claims.