In India, Same-sex Couples Have a Long Way to Go for Rights

In India, same-sex couples are denied benefits such as tax deductions or inheritance and pensions that heterosexual couples are entitled to when a spouse dies. And while same-sex couples are struggling for their rights here, same-sex couples in India are even farther away from gaining the same rights as heterosexual couples.

Writer-founder of India’s first gay magazine said that “‘in case of inheritance, if a Muslim gay man dies, his will would not be respected and Muslim law gets primacy unless the partner had an affidavit declaring he is not a practicing Muslim and an apostate.'” India has a long way to go before women get equal rights and an even longer way to go for same-sex couples to have equal rights.

See Paramita Ghosh and Abhijit Patnalik, Life Without Benefits for India’s Gay Couples, Hindustan Times, Apr. 7, 2013.