The Supreme Court says no to marriage equality

On 17 October 2023, the eyes of India's queer community turned to New Delhi. In offices and living rooms, people followed the broadcast from the Supreme Court. In the spring, the five-judge bench had heard twenty-one petitions seeking to open marriage to same-sex couples. Now it announced its decision – and dashed the hopes of many.

The court ruled unanimously that the constitution does not guarantee a fundamental right to marry. Nor could the Special Marriage Act of 1954 be interpreted to include queer couples. Opening marriage was a matter for parliament to decide. On two further questions the verdict was closer: by three votes to two, the court rejected a right to civil unions and to joint adoption. Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud was in the minority each time.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had firmly opposed the petitions. Marriage, it argued, was a union between a man and a woman; the petitions merely represented the interests of an urban elite. Chandrachud rejected this portrayal. A woman working in the fields in a village could also be queer, he said.

Nevertheless, the ruling contained some clarifications and demands in favour of queer people. Several judges called for protection against discrimination and harassment, as well as helplines and safe houses. The court also confirmed that trans people in heterosexual relationships may marry under existing law. A government committee was to examine which rights could be granted to queer couples in everyday life, for example with joint bank accounts.

One of the petitioners described the day as disappointing but not hopeless. Yet hopes of a different outcome suffered a further blow: in early 2025, the court also dismissed the petitions for a review of the judgment. And yet only five years before the marriage ruling, the same court had ushered in historic change when it struck down the colonial-era ban on same-sex relations.