Same Sex Marriage- Supreme Court Hearing- LIVE UPDATES

Kothari: What does a family do? It goes to the core of our being. Our families give us not only love and care but also psychological and economical support. Can we not have the right to have our families recognised?

Kothari: So what does the right to family mean? The right to marry has been upheld in a whole variety of judgements- Shaktivahini etc. The right to marry gives rise to a family which also has to be recognised as a fundamental right.

Kothari: She was on the streets, begging. That is what so many Transgender persons have to do. They have no other option.

Kothari: The petitioner, Dr Akkai Padmashali, was born male. She faced so much violence at her parental home that she had no other option but to leave her home at 14/15 years of age.

Kothari: There are intersex persons as well. My second point is that the right to family has to be recognised under right to life under A 21.

Kothari: In practice, despite the recognition of one's gender identity, transgender persons are unable to exercise their full legal rights for many reasons. One, despite NALSA, they still have to get medical reassignment to get documents changed.

Kothari: The right of transgender persons to marry was also specifically recognised in NALSA.

Kothari: The purpose of granting this right to self determine one's gender identity is to get legal recognition to a whole bunch of other rights including the right to marry.

Kothari: This court held that it is not only two genders - not only male or female but male, female, or transgenders who could identify as any even without medical reassignment.

Kothari: Transgender persons are persons whose gender doesn't align with the sex given at birth. NALSA judgement protected the right of self determining gender identity.