Solicitor General compared Seme Sex Marriage to incest

The ongoing hearings on marriage equality in the Supreme Court have been distressing for many queer individuals who have had to keep up with every triggering argument presented by the respondents. Recently, during the hearings, the Solicitor General argued that legalizing same-sex marriages would mean legitimizing all prohibited marriages, including incest. However, the Chief Justice of India noted that comparing incest with queer marriages was "far-fetched."

Opponents of same-sex marriage commonly argue that it is limited to urban areas where society is supposedly more depraved and only the wealthy have the privilege to identify as non-binary and explore alternative sexualities. To dispel this misconception, the court had to clarify that just because "more people are coming out in urban spaces," it does not imply that rural areas are devoid of it. To support this point, the court was provided with the example of Zainab Patel, a trans woman who grew up in the chawls of Lower Parel in Mumbai despite coming from a traditional Catholic family that never missed Sunday prayers, with churchgoing being their recreation.

Zainab Patel knew she was a woman from the age of six, but her feminine expression resulted in severe bullying at her all-boys school. Later, abuse from a family member blurred her understanding of her own queerness, and her parents took her to a faith healer instead of a counsellor. Patel felt isolated and suicidal for much of her childhood, until she earned admission to St Andrew’s College, where she was able to see the many hues of queerness in Mumbai. From there, she joined the Humsafar Trust and later an aid organisation working in Maharashtra on HIV prevention and care.

However, transphobia at college and from the parents of other students led her to leave home and live with other trans people in the Malvani area. Despite these challenges, Patel became the first out-and-open trans person to work for the United Nations in India. Today, she heads the inclusion department of Pernod Ricard and draws inspiration from reformers who fought for social justice. Although the opposition from faith-based groups towards same-sex marriage puzzles her, she has faith that India will continue its progress towards equality. As she says, “we really need to remember what Justice Shah said in his judgement about the court not conferring rights, but confirming them.”