NEW DELHI: India’s Congress party set up a new internal group this week to promote LGBTQ+ rights, while another party has named a person from the community as its spokesperson, in the first such political recognition after many setbacks.

The Supreme Court de­cri­minalised homosexuality in 2018, but greatly disappointed the LGBTQ+ community last year when it declined to legalise same-sex marriage, leaving the matter to parliament to decide.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, which has also said the legislature is the right platform to decide, canvassed public opinion this week on how best to ensure policies for the community inclusive and effective.

The government told the Supreme Court last year that same-sex marriages were not “comparable with the Indian family unit concept”.

Congress, whose political clout has risen after doing much better than expected in the April-June general election, named LGBTQ+ activist Mario da Penha this week to head its new unit for the community, under its All-India Pro­fessionals Congress division.

The appointment follows Congress’s poll promise to bring in a law to legalise civil unions between same-sex couples.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2024