NEED OF LEGISLATIONS FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY .

Author - Aditi Malik

The LGBTQ+ community in India is one of the overlooked parts of society. A massive percentage of the population does not believe in the reality of LGBTQ+, for them, it is just a hoax that can be combated or nullified.

This propagates mental and physical problems for the community with harassment and torture by the people against their rights.

This harassment and torture in many ways negate their fundamental rights and basic living such as same-sex marriage, adoption rights, inheritance rights.

New legislation should be made for the protection and for a better quality of life of people belonging in the LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY.

The first step towards a better future will be granted rights for same-sex marriage and for a couple to live peacefully and harmoniously without the interference and harm of society.

Adoption regulations should be amended, where couples of same-sex and others belonging to the LGBTQ+ community can adopt a child and provide a good future. However, even in such a forward time, the adoption laws are so strict that many even of a normal Hindu marriage are not able to meet the unnecessary requirements to adopt a child.

This problem has lead to many children living on the streets and or in orphanages with no facility to either die alone or grown into poverty.

Access to IVF should be given to lesbian couples trying to get pregnant and commercial surrogacy for male couples should be made legal and easily available.

Another change that can bloom is the gender-neutral prefixes, instead of the father and mother column and Mr and miss, gender-neutral terms should be used. The third gender option is now legal in India through the NALSA CASE.

Property possession and inheritance also comes into contraction which needs to be dealt with separate laws and inclusions in the existing laws. A child adopted by a same-sex couple should be given the right to inherit property. Maintenance of same-sex couple after death or divorce.

The major highlight which should have the strongest punishment if violated is the protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Conversion therapy and other resorts to change someone's orientation without their will should be banned and punishable with imprisonment.

Germany has since the year of 2017 made it legal for same-sex marriage and given full adoption rights. India should follow the example of Germany and now the USA also. The Netherlands was the first country in 2001 to legalize same-sex marriage.

Germany and Netherlands should be taken as an example and legislation similar to their regarding the footing of the LGBTQ+ should be adopted and necessary amendments should be made in the existing legislation of our country.

Before the advent of this law, a major revolution that is pending in the narrow mindset and fear of adhering to the so-called conventional ways of leading life. Our society thrives on patriarchy and clearly isn’t ready to fully accept this age-old aspect of identity. There is a need to increase awareness towards making people realize how normal it is to have varied sexual preferences regardless of your own gender identity. The chances of this law not being objected to will be much higher if there is enough support from those who want to see us nurture and grow into a less judgmental and more progressive society.

NALSA was a big step for our country as it legally recognized people who fall outside the generic gender binary. The Supreme Court held that eunuchs can legally consider themselves as a “third gender”.

Another leap for the LGBTQ+ community came from the 2018 landmark judgment of the NAVTEJ SINGH JOHAR V. UNION OF INDIA, where the Supreme Court struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code of India and further claimed that it violates Articles 14,15,16 and 19 (1)(a) of the Indian Constitution.

Section 377 of IPC talked about sexual indulges which are against the order of nature as illegal, this rule came around in 1861 during British rule.

On April 28, 2021, the Madras high court justice N Anand Venkatesh came across a petition which was filed by two young same-sex orientation women. Justice N Anand Venkatesh took the decision to go for psycho-education on the matter pending before the court of same-sex marriage. He further said pronounced “Ignorance is no justification for normalizing any form of discrimination, It was I (us), who has to set off on a journey of understanding them and accepting them and shed our notions, and not they who have to turn themselves inside out to suit our notions of social morality and tradition. Till the legislature comes up with an enactment, the LGBTQIA+ community cannot be left in a vulnerable atmosphere where there is no guarantee for their protection and safety.”

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