Love is love. No matter what gender, caste, religion, age (if both of them are legally consenting adults), or any other identity spectrum. But the end product of love is deemed to be marriage by societal norms. And we can kid ourselves by saying we do not conform to those norms but somewhere we need that validation to live peacefully.
This gave birth to the idea of getting legal recognition for same-sex marriage. But if you think it is only about getting dignity in society, then you are wrong. This article discusses various reasons why getting legal recognition for same-sex marriage is important.
Why do we need legal recognition of same-sex marriage?
Marriage, when legally recognized comes with a bouquet of fundamental and couple rights. For example, married people get special privileges in banks. They get to file insurance in a way that they can nominate each other for life insurance.
Imagine this, you are married to a person, and in case one of you dies the other person is unable to get the life insurance money even. At the expense of sounding like someone exaggerating, this is simply a Dystopia that queer couples in India are living in.
But secondly, it is about Reproductive Futurism. Reproductive Futurism means that any couple’s tendency to be accepted in society depends upon their ability to reproduce. It means that society works so that people who can create a new generation are appreciated more. The legal recognition of same-sex marriage comes with the right to adopt a kid.
And people are hell-bent on saying that the kid will be bullied and will be affected by this agenda. But what they fail to understand is that an orphan kid getting adopted means they are getting a set of parents who love them and care for them. This is far better than having no parents at all. But the hatred for the LGBTQIA+ community is so high that they would rather see the kid live without love than get loved by a same-sex couple.
Other than these rights and other fundamental rights legal recognition also empowers more people to come out. There is a very big imposter marriage sham functioning in India. Men and Women get married to each other in India. While knowing that they are homosexual, they still want to protect themselves from society, family, and the discrimination that comes with it. Other than this, they know that the law is not on their side.
Giving legal recognition to these marriages will ensure that more same-sex couples marry each other and live that life instead of an unhappy marriage that ruins families. And more than that it ruins people who are in this marriage. Intimacy is zero. The kid is unhappy when the parents have no chemistry or love. Because they resent each other.
You can find millions of married men on applications like Grindr, trying to hook up with other men secretly. They cry about the fact that they had to get married in a heterosexual manner. This and there are many more small reasons why Same-sex marriage should be legally recognized.
Why Judiciary? Why not Legislative?
Another very important aspect regarding the Same-Sex marriage debate in India is why are we appealing to the supreme court. If this is a civil matter why is this not discussed in the legislative assembly? The simple idea is that this matter is about rights and legal recognition. Legal recognition comes from the law. But also this is not just a civil matter, right? This demands a change in many fundamental laws. A demand for a change of many definitions according to Indian Law.
Only Judiciary can provide us with an iron-clad mechanism to stop this discrimination. But also, understand it like this. If the law provides us with legal recognition of same-sex marriage. People are more likely to accept same-sex couples. They get more normalized. Legislative comes from the inherent idea of pleasing people to get elected again. Law is there to protect marginalized identities. This protection depends on the supreme court right now.
Finally,
The legal recognition of same-sex marriage is a hope. A way to show the world that India is not the same religion-driven backward country anymore. We recognize the existence of other identities and treat them with the same dignity. You can find a majority of hate on the internet and in real life.
People keep saying that this is not natural and my heart wants to tell every one of them that this is as natural as it gets. People can not control who they love. Once the idea of marrying outside one’s caste was far-fetched. Things are getting better now because the law exists for protecting that marriage. Inter-religion marriage is still debated. The only fundamental argument in my head is that people should be allowed to love.
When two people love, they never hurt others by loving each other. Your heterosexuality is not in danger if you allow two men or two women or trans people to get married and be recognized legally. Be the flag bearer of love. When everything ends, which it will, only Love will prevail and only Love will exist. So with me, cross your fingers, and hope that the court rules in the favor of Love.