World without boundaries

In a landmark judgment, a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court on October 17 announced a 3:2 verdict on petitions seeking the rights for members of the LGBTQ community to marry and choose family. The apex court refused to afford legal recognition to same-sex marriages since marriage “as a social institution predates all rights, forms of political thought and laws,” and there is no unqualified right to marry that people can claim as a fundamental right. While declining to legalise same sex marriage, the court placed it upon Parliament and State governments to decide if non-heterosexual unions can be legally recognised. The five-judge bench unanimously held that there is no fundamental right to marry but allowed transgender persons to marry under existing laws. Only 35 countries worldwide have legalised same-sex marriages so far, the latest being Andorra (in February 2023) and Nepal (in June 2023). The Netherlands was the first country to legalise same-sex marriages in 2001. In India as well as many parts of the world, same-sex couples face discrimination because they are not legally permitted to marry. However, in India, the legislature, not the judiciary, can provide them relief. This was the broad theme of the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court five-judge constitution bench on October 17. The petitions had demanded that the Special Marriage Act, 1954, and the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969, either be interpreted to include same-sex marriages or be declared unconstitutional for being discriminatory towards same-sex couples. All four opinions disagreed with these contentions. The Special Marriage Act enables heterosexual couples to enter into civil marriages regardless of the religion each follows. The Foreign Marriage Act recognises marriages solemnised outside India between Indian citizens or an Indian citizen and a foreign national. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender(LGBT),an umbrella term used to refer to the community as a whole; has evolved into a global movement for equal rights etc. Despite decades of progress on LGBTQ rights in many countries, from decriminalization to recognition of same-sex marriage, sexual and gender minorities are increasingly under threat. It was found that LGBT people face stress, depression or addictive behaviour because of their sexual orientation, appearances and gender atypical behaviour. Dutch study indicate that gay men reported significantly higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders than straight men while in the case with lesbians, it is significantly more likely to lead to depression. Most religions such as Christians(with the exception of the Episcopal church), Catholic church, Islam, Orthodox Judaism, Hinduism( except texts on Kama Sutra) and Buddhism frown on homosexuality. The tenets of all religions involve humans as belonging to two genders- male and female. The rise of anti-establishment movement in the late fifties after second world war brought a new dimension that impacted conventional social, political, economic and moral principles of society. In the sixties, the new generation of young rebelled against conventional morality and experimented with everything under the Sun. This facilitated the sexual revolution and women’s revolution which have deeply impacted society till today. The binary world is no longer absolute as all traditional beliefs are relegated. This can be seen where, as against the binary gender world of man and woman, today a third gender has been recognised called transgender. These are signs that the world will be enveloped in a turmoil.