NEW DELHI: In an open letter to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, more than 400 parents have appealed that the top court may consider the plea for granting the right to “marriage equality” to their LGBTQIA+ children.
This gains significance as it comes at a time when the SC is hearing a batch of petitions seeking legal validation for same sex marriage.
Identifying themselves as a group called “Sweekar – The Rainbow Parents”, they narrate their journey and aspirations for marriage equality for their children. “We are growing old. Some of us will touch 80 soon. We hope that we get to see the legal stamp on the rainbow marriages of our children in our lifetime,” they state. “We desire to see our children and our children – in – law find legal acceptance for their relationship under the Special Marriage Act in our country,” they emphasise.
Pointing that “Sweekar” is a support group for parents of LGBTQIA+ to help navigate their journey towards acceptance, they say in the letter to the CJI that “we are appealing to you to consider the plea for marriage equality.”
“From knowing about gender and sexuality, to understanding the lives of our children, to finally accepting their sexuality and their loved one – we have gone through the whole gamut of emotions,” they state.
“We empathise with those who are opposing marriage equality, because some of us were there too. It took us education, debate and patience with our LGBTQIA+ children to realise that their lives, their feelings and their desires are valid,” they elaborate. They go on to say that they hope that those who oppose marriage equality will come around too. “We have faith in the people of India, the Constitution and the democracy of our nation,” the parents assert in the letter.
They go on to highlight that on September 6, 2018 the Supreme Court read down section 377 of the Indian Penal Code to decriminalise consensual sex between two same sex adults, and in doing so, with its statements, ascertained that the LGBTQIA+ community should be treated with dignity and acceptance.
“As we write this message in April 2023, it is almost 5 years to the Navtej Johar versus Union of India judgement. Gender and sexuality made it to election manifestos and corporate India has also begun opening up gradually to the idea of queer lives,” the parents’ group asserts.
“We are certain that a nation as big as ours, which respects its diversity and stands for the value of inclusion, will open its legal gates of marriage equality to our children too,” they emphasise with hope.