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Gender Justice and the Indian Constitution: Legal Recognition and Rights of the LGBTQ+ Community
Subject area: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities · Area of research: Law
Abstract
The Indian Constitution provides equality before law and right to life with dignity. However, for a decades, the LGBTQ+ community in India has historically faced systematic marginalization and legal invisibility. Justice is the sole of Indian Constitution but for the LGBTQ+ community, this justice has been long delayed. This paper seeks to understand the legal trajectory of gender justice through the lens of queer rights. It explores how courts have interpreted fundamental rights expansively to affirm LGBTQ+ dignity and autonomy particularly post 2014. It traces the trajectory of judicial interpretation from criminalization under section 377 IPC to its eventual reading down and further explores how courts have read Article 14, 15, 19 and 21 expensively to affirm LGBTQ+ rights. It concludes that while the judiciary has played a crucial role in legal recognition, the path toward gender justice requires deeper engagement from the legislature, Civil society and educational institution.
Keywords
LGBTQ+, Section 377, Gender Justice, Constitution, Indian, Queer Rights.
References
[1] Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT of Delhi, (2009) 160 DLT 277 (Delhi HC).
[2] Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation, (2014) 1 SCC 1.
[3] National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, AIR 2014 SC 1863.
[4] Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4161.
[5] Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, AIR 2018 SC 4321.
[6] Supriyo v. Union of India, AIR Online 2023 SC.
[7] Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015).
[8] The Constitution of India, 1950.
[9] The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 377 repealed in part).
[10] The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
[11] Basu, D. D. (2022). Introduction to the Constitution of India (25th ed.). LexisNexis.
[12] Narrain, A. (2014). Queer: Despised Sexuality, Law and Social Change. Yoda Press.
[13] Vanita, R. (2002). Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society. Routledge.
[14] Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
[15] Civil Partnership Act, 2004 (UK).
[16] Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act, 2013 (UK).
How to cite this paper
@article{1712866,
author = {Swaraj Jitendra Kadam},
title = {Gender Justice and the Indian Constitution: Legal Recognition and Rights of the LGBTQ+ Community},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2025},
volume = {9},
number = {6},
pages = {1271-1274},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1712866.pdf},
abstract = {The Indian Constitution provides equality before law and right to life with dignity. However, for a decades, the LGBTQ+ community in India has historically faced systematic marginalization and legal invisibility. Justice is the sole of Indian Constitution but for the LGBTQ+ community, this justice has been long delayed. This paper seeks to understand the legal trajectory of gender justice through the lens of queer rights. It explores how courts have interpreted fundamental rights expansively to affirm LGBTQ+ dignity and autonomy particularly post 2014. It traces the trajectory of judicial interpretation from criminalization under section 377 IPC to its eventual reading down and further explores how courts have read Article 14, 15, 19 and 21 expensively to affirm LGBTQ+ rights. It concludes that while the judiciary has played a crucial role in legal recognition, the path toward gender justice requires deeper engagement from the legislature, Civil society and educational institution.},
keywords = {LGBTQ+, Section 377, Gender Justice, Constitution, Indian, Queer Rights.},
month = {December},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV9I6-1712866}
}