Rajeshwari Kejriwal

CIA-1 Cultural Debates (MECS 131)

Ms. Renu Elizabeth Abraham
25 June 2017

Same-Sex Marriages
Not Legalising It = Denying Evolution

What if I told you that the history of same-sex marriages dates back to the earliest civilisations?
The ideas of love and companionship as a ground for marriage came up and grew popular only in the
past couple of centuries due to the industrialisation and resultant growth of the middle-class. Way
before this, the idea of marriage was associated with practices of designating land and other property.
Going further back in time, same-sex marriages originated in Rome when 2 emperors married men in
public ceremonies. This practice was then termed as Enbrotherment. Homosexuality has an ancient
history in India, too. Antiquated writings like Rig-Veda which goes back around 1500 BC and figures
and remnants delineate sexual acts between ladies as disclosures of a feminine world where sexuality
depended on joy and fertility and many more such portrayals were made.
In this essay, we will use Louis Althussers Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses from
2 perspectives to understand how denying legal recognition to Same-sex marriages in India is a de-
nial to an evolution altogether. What makes it all the more interesting is that in this case, there are 2
Ideological Sate Apparatuses, but only 1 Repressive State Apparatus at work.

Ideological State Apparatus-1

It should be legalised because:
1. It violates right to liberty guaranteed under Article-21 of the Indian Constitution-
which covers private consensual sexual relations. The major ideal to freedom (under Article-21) dis-
allows the state from meddling with the private individual exercises of the person. The idea of secu-
rity is broad to the point that no thorough and comprehensive meaning of the term can be given. And,
even at the universal level, the privilege to security has been perceived in the support of lesbians and
gay man.

2. Criminalisation of homosexual conduct is unreasonable and arbitrary-

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Encroachment of, the privilege to measure up to insurance under the watchful eye of law requires the
assurance of whether there is a reasonable and target premise to the order presented. There ought to
be an equitable and sensible nexus between the arrangement and the protest looked to be accom-
plished by the enactment. Section 377 of IPC, its administrative goal is to criminalise all the sexual
exercises which are against the request of nature, along these lines rebuffing the unnatural sex. Sec-
tion 377 expect that normal sexual act is what is performed for reproduction. Henceforth, it in this
manner names all types of non-procreative sexual go about as unnatural.

Ideological State Apparatus-2

This is to a greater degree a religious level headed discussion then a political one. Huge number of
individuals exceptionally in India are contradicting it, as it's been said it is unnatural, awkward and
corrupt. Those individuals who are restricting it their contentions depend on religious and character-
istic law conviction. A few people don't consider them as normal since they don't create kids. Is it
consecrated if gay marriage is permitted God made Adam and Eve, we never discover explanations
in Genesis about Adam and Steve. If nature needed same-sex individuals to live respectively, there
would just be one sex as opposed to various genders. Our general public depends on inverse sex mar-
riage. In the event that gay marriage is OK, at that point why wouldn't i be able to wed my cousin, or
my sister, or my feline. Don't I have an indistinguishable rights from gays or are they now over
whatever is left of us. Bear in mind that the law is particular on this. It was made to keep the struc-
ture holding the system together. It conflicts with the rules that everyone must follow that have been
utilised for a long time and depended on the premise of the charges.

Repressive State Apparatus

There is no express say of homosexuality in any of the statute books of India. A man can't be indicted
for being a gay person. In any case, the sexual demonstration of homosexuality is a criminal offence.
The significant arrangements of criminalisation of same-sex acts if found in the Section 377 of the
Indian Penal Code (IPC) of 1860.
The offence of homosexuality is perused under this segment as an Unnatural Offence. The term Car-
nal Intercourse utilised as a part of this area alludes to sex between men or as such, gay person con-
nections. Area 377 of the Indian Penal Code, was sanctioned by the British in 1860.
The Central Government has educated the Delhi High Court that homosexuality can't be legitimised
in India as the Indian culture is bigoted to the act of homosexuality/lesbianism. To reword, 2 things
can be said in regards to the administration's position:

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[a] the state has not only a capacity to, but rather really an obligation to stop unnatural sex, or else
the social request would separate, law free its authenticity at all;
[b] that our general public does not endure homosexuality, and despite the comprehensiveness of
human rights or the widespread relevance of our essential rights and flexibilities, its criminalisation
is in this manner supported; and that it is truly not our thing, its something that occurs out there in the
west, we don't need to duplicate that. At the end of the day the three mainstays of the exemplary cul-
ture contentions to criminalise any semblance of us.

To conclude, I would like to say that be the situation political, religious or social, it always comes
with various perspectives attached to it, but what is often ignored is the scientific aspect of it. Here,
for instance, the definition of unnatural is limited to the one given by IPC and thus I am of the opin-
ion that denying legal recognition to same-sex marriages is denial to an evolution altogether with
perhaps could be the RSA in this case, instead.

References:

http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/semar.htm
Dr. Durga Das Basu, Introduction To The Constitution Of India, Wadhwa Nagpur, 19th Edition,
2002.
V.N. Shukla, Constitution Of India, Eastern Book Company, 10th Edition, 2004.
S. Kumar, All India Criminal Major Acts, National Law Agency, Allahabad, 1st Edition, 1989.
Encyclopedia Of Criminology, Volume 2, 2003.
Sherry Joseph, The Law and Homosexuality in India.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZZ6QB5TSfk

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