India’s LGBTQ revolution: paving the way for global change?

Grassroots lobbying and aggressive litigation have together shaped one of world’s most effective movements for equal rights

Court proceedings due to begin Monday could officially recognise same-sex unions; only a few places outside West – and only Taiwan in Asia – do that

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Aditi Anand, left, and Susan Dias at their home in New Delhi. The same-sex couple, together for more than 10 years, hope to get married. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:00am, 11 Mar 2023Updated: 1:43am, 24 Apr 2023

Aditi Anand and Susan Dias want to get married in India, and they are willing to fight for it.

For more than a decade, the couple have put in the hard work of building a life together. They bought a house, adopted a child and co-founded companies. They came out to their families, and marched in pride parades.

This year, Anand and Dias were in the first group of Indians to petition the Supreme Court for the legal right to marry. In doing so, they have come to symbolise a remarkable wave of change in the country, where grassroots lobbying and aggressive litigation have converged in recent years to shape one of the world’s most effective movements for rights for LGBTQ people.

In quick succession, India’s Supreme Court has affirmed a constitutional right to privacy, toppled a colonial-era law criminalising sex between men and expanded legal protections for “atypical” families, a category that includes same-sex couples as well as blended and intergenerational households.

Companies run advertisements featuring same-sex couples to sell everything from jewellery to alcohol to insurance. And India’s massive film industry, where on-screen kisses were once rare, regularly features lesbian and gay characters.

“For a lot of the general public, the notion is, ‘Why are you making such a fuss?’” said Niharika Karanjawala, a lawyer representing one of several couples petitioning the court in India. “It literally comes down to every aspect of your life. You can’t have a bank account with your partner. You can’t often have them as beneficiaries on your insurance. You can’t make end-of-life decisions.”

Proceedings in India, expected to begin on Monday, could set a precedent around the world. Five years after it decriminalised gay sex, India’s top court will begin hearing a clutch of petitions seeking official recognition of same-sex unions.