As the Supreme Court recommended the Central government on Tuesday to form a committee under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary to address practical concerns of same-sex couples, one of the petitioners in the case and activist, Akkai Padmashali, has demanded including members of LGBTQIA+ in the panel.
Trans activist Padmashali told News18, “Community representatives must be in the committee so that our voices are heard and recommendations are brought through this committee and realised before Parliament”.
Speaking on the top court’s verdict to let states and Parliament decide on the administrative challenges faced by the same-sex couples, Padmashali expressed her concern on whether the legislators would effectively be able to comprehend their problems.
“Framing any sort of law especially when marriage laws are concerned, it’s the business of the legislators and you know how they function. They say it’s an urban-elite issue and we need not worry about this community and leave it to Parliament to decide. I want to question back to them why should we leave it to Parliament? When my people are not in Parliament, how can a system of justice speak like that? Many legislatures are not aware about gender and sexuality and they are not in the process of learning. In this, they must speak politics of inclusivity,” stressed Padmashali.
Trans rights activists, including Padmashali, have also put forth three demands in front of the government pertaining to same-sex marriage and have requested them to implement the previous SC judgment, talk about the political representation of minorities in Parliament and state assemblies, and elaborate more on the committee to be setup and ensure more people from the community are included in it.
Arvind Narrain, advocate and author of ‘Queer: Despised Sexuality, Law and Social Change’, who sees the judgment as a positive aspect, says now the onus is on the government to protect the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“The ball is really back in the court of Parliament. It’s their job to legislate and protect the rights of the rights of LGBTQ community. Initially, the government’s position was that it was a matter of Parliament and judiciary must not hear the matter. Then, it became an elite issue and was not the concern of the vast majority. From that, they have come down to forming a committee. We feel the bench is highly supportive of the rights of the community,” said Narrain.
The Supreme Court observed on Tuesday that same-sex couples cannot claim right to marriage as it is not a fundamental right in the Constitution. Though it rejected that the same-sex marriage was an urban-elitist concept. It also said it cannot make laws therefore it is up to Parliament to make changes to the Special Marriage Act. It also did not recognise same-sex couples right to jointly adopt.
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