New Delhi: Voicing its support for marriage equality, the United States on Thursday encouraged India to offer equal legal protection to same-sex couples and said it was “closely monitoring follow-up steps” taken by the country. The development comes a few days after the Supreme Court declined to legalise same-sex marriage and left it on the Parliament to decide.
“The United States supports marriage equality globally. We are closely monitoring follow-up steps from the government and reactions from civil society on this issue following the court's ruling,” Reuters quoted a US State Department spokesperson as saying.
“We will continue to voice our support for marriage equality and protections for LGBTQI+ persons against discrimination and encourage the Indian government to take the necessary steps to offer equal legal protection to same-sex couples,” the spokesperson added.
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The top court passed its judgment on the matter on Tuesday.
Reading out the verdict, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that homosexuality or queerness is not an urban concept or restricted to the upper classes of society. "Queerness can be regardless of one's caste or class or socio-economic status," the CJI said.
According to the Reuters report, the US State Department further said that it regularly engages with the Indian government on the issues pertaining to human rights, including LGBT rights.
It is to be noted that the top court delivered its judgment after a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, reserved its verdict on May 11 following a hearing of 10 days.
The hearing on the matter started in the Supreme Court on April 18 by the Constitution bench, which included Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, S Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha.