Utkarsh Saxena and Ananya Kotia’s love story began just like any other college romance.
It was 2008. Homosexuality had yet to gain a degree of acceptance in deeply conservative India, with many gay couples facing stigma and isolation. So Saxena and Kotia took their time, watching how people’s attitudes toward homosexuality changed.
Over the years, as Indian society became more accepting and more LGBTQ people began celebrating their sexuality openly, the couple decided to make their relationship known to their friends and family. Most of them were accepting.
Now, 15 years into their relationship, they’re taking on a bigger challenge: They’ve filed a petition with India’s Supreme Court that seeks the legalization of same-sex marriage. Three other same-sex couples have filed similar petitions that will be heard by the country’s top court in March.
If their petitions succeed, India would become the biggest country in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage, a significant step for a nation that decriminalized gay sex only a little more than four years ago. A ruling for marriage equality would also make India the world’s biggest democracy with such a right for LGBTQ couples but would run counter to the ruling Hindu nationalist government’s position, which opposes same-sex marriages.
In India, marriage is governed by a set of different laws tailored to the country’s religious groups, and a secular law for interfaith couples called the Special Marriage Act. All limit marriage to opposite-sex couples.
With no legal recognition of their relationships, many same-sex couples say they have faced a host of hurdles.
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