Evolving stance of Indian political parties regarding LGBTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage
From opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court of India initially, to maintaining a diplomatic silence after the Court handed down its eventually disappointing judgment in 2023 (in Supriyo @ Supriya Chakraborty & Anr. vs Union of India), the Congress party has released its Nyay Patra, its election manifesto for 2024, which has a dedicated section on the rights of senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ people.
The party promises that, if elected to power, they would fulfil the Court’s mandate of ensuring a high-powered committee at the Union government level is set up to hold widespread consultations with relevant stakeholders to pass a law legalising civil unions for LGBTQ+ couples.
However, the Rajasthan Congress, led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, weighed in, stating in his submissions that legalising same-sex relationships would create “imbalance” in the social fabric of the country, and would lead to “widespread consequences for the social and family systems”
It is also rather odd that the Congress party promises passing a new law on civil unions even before starting the consultative process and prematurely foreclosing the possibility of recognising LGBTQ+ marriages (civil unions are not the same as marriages)
The CPI(M) general election manifesto contains a promise for legally recognising and protecting same-sex couples’ rights in a form “similar to marriage” — but not the same as marriage.
LGBTQ+ couples, it seems have “partial allies” among the Opposition and no allies within the ruling BJP on this issue
Whether State governments can pass laws favourable to LGBTQ+ couples?
If opinion polls are anything to go by, the BJP is projected to win comfortably in the general election.
That said, State governments still have a lot of latitude to pass laws favourable to LGBTQ+ couples
Marriage and divorce, after all, fall in the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution, meaning that both State and central governments have latitude to pass laws on this subject.
While it is significant that the Congress and the CPI(M) have added LGBTQ+ rights to their manifestos, their half-hearted approach defies their liberal credentials and begs the question whether they genuinely care about LGBTQ+ rights or are just queer-baiting, trying to woo the LGBTQ+ vote by handing out breadcrumbs instead of the actual pie
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