India’s supreme court refuses to allow same-sex marriage in landmark verdict

India's top court has rejected a landmark petition seeking the recognition of same-sex marriage in the country, a blow for the queer community that denies tens of millions of LGBT+ couples the right to marry their partners.

In a lengthy judgement, the Supreme Court of India urged the government to create legal recognition for same-sex couples so that they do not face descrimination, but stopped short of including such couples within the existing legal framework of marriage.

The case involved 21 separate petitions from members of the LGBT+ community who argued that not being able to marry violated their constitutional rights, making them “second-class citizens”.

The government contested the petitions, which came just five years after India decriminalised gay sex, arguing that marriage is exclusively an institution between a man and a woman and that those seeking marriage equality represented an “urban elitist view for the purpose of social acceptance”.

The case was overseen by the country’s most senior judge, chief justice DY Chandrachud, as well as four other Supreme Court justices. It held hearings up until 11 May this year and had been deliberating its verdict for more than five months since then.

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