Can We Reimagine Relationships With Empathy Vis-a-vis LGBTQIA+ Fraternity?

In the light of a recent judgment, where the Supreme Court observed that family benefits must extend to same-sex couples and other atypical households, Outlook draws up a list of pro-queer judicial and legislative developments.

Outlook Bureau

Updated on: 23 September 2022 11:42 am

Last month, Supreme Court justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna in a way threw open the definition of familial relationships to incorporate unmarried partnerships and queer relationships, amid demands from LGBTQIA+ groups for legal endorsement of their marriages.

“Familial relationships may take the form of domestic, unmarried partnerships or queer relationships,” the two judges observed while disposing an appeal filed by a government nurse, who was denied maternity leave because her spouse had two children from an earlier marriage.

Although the point made by the two judges is limited to the realm of an observation made in the course of a judgment, it suggests a change in judicial understanding of and a sensitivity towards issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community.

Outlook takes stock of significant rulings and legislations in recent times, putting the spotlight on judicial and legislative developments that impact the LGBTQIA+ community.

(This appeared in the print edition as "‘QUEER’ING THE PITCH")