Indian political parties for the first time include LGBTQ rights in election platforms
The world’s largest democratic exercise will begin in India on April 19 as citizens begin to cast their votes in the country’s election.
This year’s election is different because national level political parties for the first time are promising to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples as part of their election platforms.
The Indian National Congress, one of India’s oldest political parties, promised after wide consultation that it would introduce a bill that would recognize civil unions between couples who are part of the LGBTQ community.
The party, which has governed India for the majority of the period since independence from the U.K. in 1947, has refrained from taking a stance on laws that include Section 377, which criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations.
