There is more acceptance for homosexuality since it was decriminalised in 2018, says chief justice

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Tuesday said that there is greater acceptance in the Indian society towards homosexuality since it was decriminalised by the Supreme Court in 2018, Live Law reported.

A five-judge bench headed by Chandrachud is hearing multiple petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriages.

“Between Navtej [Johar judgement] and today, our society has found much greater acceptance of same-sex couples,” the chief justice said at Tuesday’s hearing. “That’s very positive because you find that there is a greater acceptance in our universities.”

In the Navtej Singh Johar case of 2018, the Supreme Court had decriminalised homosexuality in India. A five-judge Constitution bench had unanimously held that the criminalisation of consensual gay sex under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was “irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary”.

In the pleas seeking legal backing for same-sex marriages in India, the petitioners have argued that these provisions allowing only a man and a woman to get married are discriminatory against the LGBTQIA+ community and infringe on their fundamental right to dignity and privacy.

The Central government has opposed the petitions arguing that living together as partners and having sexual relationships with same-sex individuals is not comparable to the Indian family unit concept that involves a biological man and biological woman. It also told the court that the petitions seeking...

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