LEGAL
This section attempts to throw some light on the various legislative aspects of the movement and provide the user with a general awareness of some of the issues and struggles that were demanded to be addressed.
The issues that gay rights groups emphasized have varied since the 1970s by time and place, with different national organizations promoting policies specifically tailored to their country’s milieu.
A commonly stated goal among these movements is social equality for LGBT people, but there is still denial of full LGBT rights.
Some have also focused on building LGBT communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from biphobia, homophobia, and transphobia
Political goals include changing laws and policies to gain new rights, benefits, and protections from harm.
Other issues of primary importance are
: Combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic and promoting disease prevention and funding for research
: Lobbying government for nondiscriminatory policies in employment
: Housing, and other aspects of civil society
: Ending the ban on military service for gay and lesbian individuals
: Expanding hate crimes legislation to include protection for gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals
: Securing marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Resources:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in India have been evolving rapidly in recent years. However, Indian LGBT citizens still face certain social and legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT persons. The country has repealed its colonial-era laws that directly discriminated against homosexual and transgender identities and also explicitly interpreted Article 15 of the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. But many legal protections have not been provided for, including same-sex marriage.
Legislations for homosexuals: The British Raj criminalized sexual activities "against the order of nature", including homosexual activities, under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which entered into force in 1861. In 2018, in the landmark decision of Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India decriminalised consensual homosexual intercourse by reading down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and excluding consensual homosexual sex between adults from its ambit. The change was welcomed by Indian and global LGBTQ+ communities as a step towards acceptance and equal rights.
Same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in India nor are same-sex couples offered limited rights such as a civil union or a domestic partnership. In October 2017, a group of citizens proposed a draft of a new Uniform Civil Code that would legalize same-sex marriage to the Law Commission of India.
It defines marriage as "the legal union as prescribed under this Act of a man with a woman, a man with another man, a woman with another woman a transgender with another transgender or a transgender with a man or a woman. All married couples in partnership entitled to adopt a child. Sexual orientation of the married couple or the partners is not to be a bar to their right to adoption. Non-heterosexual couples will be equally entitled to adopt a child". There are currently several same-sex marriage petitions pending with the courts.
In a 2019 survey, 62% of the respondents said that they didn’t approve of same-sex marriages. Some activists believe India might not be ready for same-sex marriage—at least until gender and sexual orientation discrimination are outlawed. This means that same sex relationships have no legal status yet making it difficult to transfer property rights, make medical decisions for each other in case one is incapacitated or, in short, enjoy rights heterosexual married couples in India take for granted.
Legislations for Transgendered community : Transgender people in India are allowed to change their legal gender post-sex reassignment surgery under legislation passed in 2019, and have a constitutional right to register themselves under a third gender. They were legally granted voting rights as a third sex in 1994.
On 15 April 2014, the Supreme Court of India declared transgender people a socially and economically suppressed class entitled to reservations in education and jobs, and also directed union and state governments to frame welfare schemes for them. The Court also ruled that the Indian Constitution mandates the recognition of a third gender on official documents, and that Article 15 bans discrimination based on gender identity.
On 24 April 2015, the Rajya Sabha unanimously passed the Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 guaranteeing rights and entitlements, reservations in education and jobs (2% reservation in government jobs), legal aid, pensions, unemployment allowances and skill development for transgender people. It also contained provisions to prohibit discrimination in employment as well as prevent abuse, violence and exploitation of transgender people. The bill also provided for the establishment of welfare boards at the centre and state level as well as for transgender rights courts.
A government bill, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019, was reintroduced to Parliament after the 2019 general election. The bill was approved on 10 July by the Cabinet of India. The bill defines transgender persons as those "whose gender does not match the gender assigned to that person at birth and includes trans-men or trans-women, persons with intersex variations, gender-queers, and persons having socio-cultural identities such as kinnar, hijras, aravani and jogta". A person would have the right to choose to be identified as male, female or "transgender". However, transgender people are required to go to a district magistrate to have their gender identity certified, and require proof of sex reassignment surgery. However, transgender activists criticized that the bill is silent on a real remedy or mechanism to integrate transgender people into public spaces and improve the quality of their lives, or on how the State intends to enforce this, or about what the State will do, if and when such discrimination does occur. The bill was also criticized for not taking into account any of the suggestions made by transgender activists; namely that it only provides for transgender persons to receive identity certificates recognizing them as "transgender" and therefore, excludes other gender identities. Although it includes terms such as "trans-men", "trans-women", "persons with intersex variations" and "gender-queers" in its definition of transgender persons, these terms are not defined.
On 22 April 2019, the Madras High Court, the high court of Tamil Nadu, ruled that the term "bride" under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 includes trans women. Specifically, it directed the authorities to register a marriage between a man and a transgender woman.
Resources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_India
2.https://www.britannica.com/topic/gay-rights-movement
Advent of the contraceptive pill changed the view of sex from a procreative one to more of an activity of pleasure. It opened the door to sexual freedom. The development of antibiotic that helped the treatment of various sexually transmitted diseases led to sexual experimentation. The feminist movement also advocated for the elimination of sex distinctions. They were resolving the problem of biology=destiny. Then there was the homosexual revolution that promoted the concept of biological sex not necessarily meaning gender identity.