Powerful India Hindu Group Hints at Support for LGBTQ Couples

(Bloomberg) -- The head of a powerful Hindu group linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has backed LGBTQ rights but stopped short of advocating same-sex marriages while the country’s top court is hearing pleas for legal recognition of such unions.

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The comments by Mohan Bhagwat — the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party — come when the Indian government’s position on same sex marriage is to be placed before the Supreme Court. The court’s next hearing in the matter is set for March.

The BJP government has opposed allowing gay marriage in the past.

Speaking to an RSS-linked magazine in an interview published earlier this week, Bhagwat said LGBTQ people have an inalienable right to live in India. He invoked Hindu epics and mythology to say that transgender people and homosexual relationships have always existed throughout history.

“It’s not that these people have never existed in our country. People with such proclivities have always been there; for as long as humans have existed,” Bhagwat said. “We want them to have their own private space and to feel that they, too, are a part of the society.”

The RSS is historically known to be conservative but has seen a gradual shift in its stance on LGBTQ rights. The growing acceptance, even if at a snail-pace, can be seen as an indication of the group trying to keep up with the times. Bhagwat’s comments could prove significant in shaping the government’s position on same-sex marriages.

India decriminalized consensual gay sex in 2018 after a landmark judgment passed by the Supreme Court. Prior to the ruling, a senior RSS leader, in 2016, had termed homosexuality as an immoral act and something that needed psychological treatment rather than criminal action. Shortly after the judgment, however, Bhagwat agreed with the court ruling and said that the society needs to take a call on issues as the times change.

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