Our Bureau
Washington
The United States encouraged India to work towards offering equal legal protection to same-sex couples and was ‘closely monitoring follow-up steps’ from the Indian government after the Supreme Court declined to legalize same-sex marriage, the US State Department said.
“The United States supports marriage equality globally,” a US State Department spokesperson said. “We are closely monitoring follow-up steps from the government and reactions from civil society on this issue following the court’s ruling.”
“We will continue to voice our support for marriage equality and protection for LGBTQI+ persons against discrimination and encourage the Indian government to take the necessary steps to offer equal legal protection to same-sex couples,” the State Department spokesperson said.
The US State Department said it regularly engages with the Indian government on human rights concerns, including LGBT rights.
The Indian Supreme Court declined to legalize same-sex marriage and left it to parliament to decide, agreeing with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government that the legislature is the right forum to rule on the issue.
The unanimous order by a five-judge bench came as a huge disappointment to the large LGBTQ community in the world’s most populous country, five years after the court scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex.
