NEW DELHI – India will consider giving equal financial rights and legal protection to the LGBTQ community, but legalising same-sex marriage is not on the agenda, despite the Supreme Court saying the onus for this is on parliament, two government sources said.
The government has offered to form a committee to address the “human concerns” of same-sex couples, and this panel will include legal experts, LGBTQ activists and theologians, the sources said.
The committee will look into all aspects of legal protection for the LGBTQ population and what can be done to make their lives better, but discussions around same-sex marriage will not be part of its purview because it requires complete backing of all religious groups, one source said.
The second source said the panel will look at issues such as inheritance and financial and medico-legal rights of the LGBTQ community.
Gay rights activists said they now expect lawmakers to start discussions in parliament, and they expressed frustration at the protracted process.
The Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality by scrapping a colonial-era ban on gay sex in an historic verdict in 2018. But same-sex marriage is a sensitive topic and speaking openly about homosexuality is taboo for most in the socially conservative country of 1.4 billion people.
LGBTQ activists say that while the 2018 ruling affirmed their constitutional rights, it is unjust that they still lack legal backing for marriages, a basic right enjoyed by heterosexual couples.
The government sources said the committee would seek the opinion of religious experts on whether religious institutions accept or reject same-sex couples.
