Same-sex marriage: LGBTQ+ Indians vow to fight on after setback
LGBTQ+ Indians pledged on Tuesday to keep fighting for marriage equality after the Supreme Court declined to legalise same-sex weddings, but said they feared a long wait due to the government’s opposition to gay unions.
A five-judge bench left the contentious issue to parliament to decide, dashing the hopes of millions of LGBTQ+ people in the world’s most populous country, five years after the court finally scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex.
It also ruled that same-sex couples did not have the right to adopt children. “We may stumble on the march to equality, but we will continue to march forward,” said Saattvic, who goes by one name, a gay Indian man living with his partner in Vancouver, Canada.
Calling the court’s decision “disappointing”, Saattvic said it had vindicated his move from India to a country where same-sex marriage is allowed. “I feel sad that my own country will not yet have me as I am, and will not treat me as an equal … I hope that changes soon,” said Saattvic, one of more than a dozen petitioners in the case.
