Same-sex Marriage Recognition: Supreme Court to hear the matter on 24 April 2023

On the third day of hearing the batch of petitions seeking recognition of same-sex marriage, the rights of LGBTQ were addressed and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights Act) 2019 was referred. During the proceedings, Advocate Vishwanathan remarked that “A trans person has the right to marry a person of choice irrespective of gender.” He further added, “We have challenged the SMA (Special Marriage Act) as it does not recognize marriages other than heterosexual. The only way to save is to equalize it.” To this CJI DY Chandrachud (heading the Constitution bench) asked Advocate Vishwanathan, “...tell us your relief sought”. The Advocate remarked orally, “All that is needed is to add husband, wife or ‘spouse’ in SMA. Rest will follow. The government needs to tailor it. On the age issue, in case the SMA is to be interpreted, the default age be kept at 18 years for the third gender, keeping in view of the Indian Majority Act.” He further added to recognize marriage for LGBTQ as a fundamental right. With this, the contentions for the third-day hearing were completed and CJI announced the names of lawyers to argue next. Along with this, CJI Chandrachud listed the matter for further hearing on Monday, 24 April 2023.

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