Why is marriage also a big deal for India’s LGBTQ+ community? Menaka Guruswamy explains...
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00:00We are a marriage country.
00:02I am in a relationship with my partner.
00:05But what name do I give this relationship?
00:08Because we are not a country that recognizes
00:10girlfriends and boyfriends or dating.
00:11One of the biggest things I think I have learned
00:14from being gay is simply this,
00:16that these are journeys that not just that you make,
00:20but these are journeys that our families make.
00:30We are a marriage country.
00:32We are a marriage country.
00:34We are a marriage country.
00:36We are a marriage country.
00:38We are a marriage country.
00:40We are a marriage country.
00:42We are a marriage country.
00:44We are a marriage country.
00:46We are a marriage country.
00:48We are a marriage country.
00:50We are a marriage country.
00:52We are a marriage country.
00:54We are a marriage country.
00:56We are a marriage country.
00:59The Marriage Project
01:15The Marriage Project
01:20Maybe the history of the law,
01:22if you wanted one way of imagining and understanding the law,
01:26so much of the history of the law has been about policing love.
01:29Whether it's interracial relationships,
01:33whether it's inter-caste relationships,
01:35the history of my country is about prohibiting that.
01:39And the Constitutional Project
01:41is about remedying the disadvantage of caste.
01:45The Courts Project has been about enabling
01:49inter-religious and inter-caste marriages.
01:52And that has been a project
01:55of contemporary, modern, constitutional India.
01:58But that has not been the norm
02:01of the social, religious and civilizational India as we understand it.
02:06The second part of this project
02:09is why marriage?
02:11Now there's a legal answer to that
02:16and there is a social answer to that.
02:19The legal system in India and in most countries,
02:24anywhere in the world,
02:25is premised on a bundle of rights
02:28that recognizes our personhood.
02:30And we may agree or disagree with it,
02:32but that bundle of rights,
02:35who do I leave my home to?
02:37Who do I nominate for life insurance?
02:41Who do I have as a co-signee on a lease?
02:45Can I buy Arundhati medical insurance? No, I cannot.
02:49So the legal system, can I open a joint bank account?
02:54Can I avoid paying estate taxes
02:57if I leave my little home to her?
03:00I hope she'll leave her larger home to me.
03:03But all of this, seriously, all of this
03:06is premised on one thing,
03:08blood relationship.
03:10And blood relationship is not just
03:12a child and a parent.
03:14Blood relationship is that of marriage,
03:17a spousal relationship.
03:19So if you want to be part
03:21of the legal project of rights,
03:24civil liberties, protections,
03:26then you either have to be born
03:29to someone or you have to be married to someone.
03:31We are a marriage country.
03:34Young woman called me up
03:36shortly after the judgment.
03:38She's a very well-known Indian.
03:40And she is dating someone.
03:44She's very prominent.
03:46And she's come out on national TV.
03:50And she said one thing.
03:52I am in a relationship with my partner.
03:55But what name do I give this relationship?
03:57Because we are not a country that recognizes
03:59girlfriends and boyfriends or dating.
04:01We're a country that sanctifies
04:03one kind of relationship,
04:05and that is marriage.
04:07All of that aside,
04:09young people in India, gay or straight,
04:13different religions, different castes, different classes,
04:16when you speak to them,
04:18they all aspire for one thing in common,
04:21which is a long-term partnership,
04:23which is premised on marriage.
04:25Part of those aspirations of occupational success
04:29includes the aspiration of personal happiness.
04:32And a core part of that personal happiness
04:34that they see for the rest of their lives
04:36is having someone to love,
04:39that the law recognizes
04:41that they can in turn take home to their families.
04:44One of the biggest things I think I have learned
04:48from being gay is simply this,
04:50that these are journeys that not just that you make,
04:54but these are journeys that our families make.
04:56These are journeys that people who disagree with us make.
04:59And these are journeys that we make collectively.
05:02You cannot go on a march by yourself.
05:05You have to take people with you.
05:07And if you want to take people with you,
05:09you have to be able to talk to them
05:11in ways that there is some resonance.
05:17For more UN videos visit www.un.org