The marriage equality petitions that are to be heard by the Supreme Court make a case for queer and trans persons to be free of the control of violent families and give them the power to to gain recognition for families of their choice, said the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), along with the National Network of LBI (Lesbian, Bisexual, Intersex) Women and Trans Persons. The statement was made at a conference jointly organised by PUCL and the Network on Monday, April 3, at New Delhi, to present the findings of a public hearing that recorded the testimonies and lived experiences of queer and trans persons facing conflict from their families.
In a press note, the Network said that the testimonies from 32 queer and trans persons from across the country were heard. It stated that natal family violence manifests in the form of physical, verbal, emotional, and economic abuse often from childhood, and manifests as restrictions on the freedom of queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming persons.
Speaking on the laws in the country, lawyer Veena Gowda said, “All child-related laws are [heteronormative] family-centric. So, even if foster care is available, only heteronormative families are considered for fostering, which might not be sensitive to the needs of LGBTQIA+ children. A redefinition of families and marriage, therefore, is necessary for the safe rehabilitation of queer and transgender children.” Adding to this, Paromita Chakravarti said, “For queer and trans people, their caste, religion, class, and ability additionally impact their right to choice and their ability to make decisions about their own lives and relationships.”
Divya Taneja, who represents the Special Cell for Women and Children, Mumbai, said that the testimonies reiterate the urgent need for the State to protect the right of queer and trans persons to be free of the control of violent families, and to make families of their choice. “The varied experiences in the testimonies show that, despite decriminalisation of adult consensual relationships, queer and trans persons remain stigmatised, and are neither free to choose their partners nor make families and living arrangements of their choice. Their lives continue to be dominated by the diktats of and violence from natal families,” the Network’s press note said. It added that the petition at the apex court seeking marriage equality will give them the choice to choose their families.
The testimonies were heard by a panel comprising retired Justice Prabha Sridevan; Co-Founder of Dhanak, Asif Iqbal; Divya Taneja from Special Cell for Women and Children,
Mumbai; activist Kavita Krishnan; anti-caste activist Manjula Pradeep; Mumbai-based senior counsel Mihir Desai; academic Paromita Chakravarti; and lawyer Veena Gowda. The report of the public hearing is yet to be published.
"The violence will not vanish by expanding marriage equality alone. Further, if we are redefining families to include LGBTQIA+ couples we also need to redefine them to include families of choice, with provisions for inheritance, child custody, being able to designate non-blood relatives and non-spouses to make critical medical decisions, etc. Marriage equality by itself is not the magic bullet," said L Ramakrishnan from NGO SAATHI.
The network consists of community and civil society organisations, including Nazariya: Queer Feminist Resource Group (Delhi), Sappho For Equality (Kolkata), Sahayatrika (Thrissur), Orinam (Chennai), Raahi (Bengaluru), QT Centre (Hyderabad), Hasrat-e-Zindagi Mamuli (Mumbai), Vikalp Women's Group (Vadodara), SAATHII (pan-India), and other unaffiliated individuals.