The two women lawyers who fought for legalizing homosexuality in India are now striving at even bigger targets.
The Queer community got their place and recognition in the society when Section 377 was terminated in addition to legalizing homosexuality in India. This was a big “win-win situation” for the two women lawyers Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju who were fighting for this.
The law wouldn’t have been knocked down without the support of these lawyers and the petitioners who were constantly supporting it. The intermediary age of the petitioners was 60 when the debate on the Queer community had just begun. But moving on as the case started approaching the Supreme Court the age came down to 24 which was quite exceptional for the case to move further.
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The two unabashed advocates Meneka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju came out as a couple last year. These two ladies have been constantly fighting for the discrimination that LGBTQ Community had faced. Before the win and during the 2013 verdict the judge had asked if any of the officers knew anyone from the Queer community. To which Guruswamy laughed and said, “I am not that modern”. They said in one of the interviews that 2018 has not only been a professional achievement but also a personal victory.
Both the pioneers have also been included in the TIME MAGAZINE’s list of 100 most influential people in the world.
They said that they are supporting the “marriage project” which is a legal one to make same-sex marriages a constitutional right. Whereas Katju added, “what we hope for is that this right to choose your partner will include the right for LGBTQ couples to marry”.
The Queer community has not got that much representation and the conversations around this need to be directed. In the current scenario, same-sex marriages are legal in 29 countries and now India should be the one adding up on the list.
Image source: idiva.com
The inter-caste marriage is still a big agenda is some regions in India therefore it is constitutionally legal. India is not a country that approves right of the concept of dating hence we are living in a country where one is approved with the relationship of ‘marriage’.
A gay couple from Kerala who got married has filed a petition to legalize their marriage. With this, the “marriage project” has already begun. On the same hand, Katju and Guruswamy are hoping for more young couples to come forward and get their right for the ones they love. Believing that is the change is about, to begin with, this.
