LGBT rights in India

LGBT rights in India

Subject – Governance

Context – Milestone for gay rights: SC Collegium picks SaurabhKirpal for Delhi High Court

Concept –

• Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in India have been evolving rapidly in recent years.
• The country has repealed its colonial-era laws that directly discriminated against homosexual and transgender identities and also explicitly interpreted Article 15 of the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. But many legal protections have not been provided for, including same-sex marriage.
• In 2018, in the landmark decision of Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India decriminalised consensual homosexual intercourse by reading down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and excluding consensual homosexual sex between adults from its ambit
  • SC in its judgement specifically said that the Right to Privacy and the protection of sexual orientation lie at the core of the fundamental rights guaranteed by Article 14 (Equality before Law), Article 15 (Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, caste, sex, place of birth), Article 21 (Protection of life and liberty) and Article 19 (Freedom of expression) of the Constitution.
  • Supreme Court stated that the ‘Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Law in Relation to Issues of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’ should be applied as a part of Indian law.
  • Yogyakarta Principles recognise freedom of sexual orientation and gender identity as part of Human Rights. They were outlined in 2006 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia by a distinguished group of International Human Right experts.

International Developments for LGBT Community:

• India: In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court of India ruled that consensual adult gay sex is not a crime saying sexual orientation is natural and human beings have no control over it.
• Ireland: Ireland legalized same-sex marriage. The country, which had decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, became the first country to allow same-sex marriage at a national level by popular vote.
• USA: US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal.
• Nepal: Nepal legalized homosexuality in 2007 and the new Constitution of the country to gives many rights to the LGBT community.