Supreme Court should not allow legalization of same-sex marriage: NPF

Mokokchung, 11 May (MTNews): Leader of the NPF Legislature Party, Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu stated today that the Naga People’s Front is of the view that the Supreme Court should not allow legalization of same-sex marriages as it can have far-reaching implications on the society.

Saying that the government of India has rightly opposed same-sex marriages, Neinu said, “Naga customary law nor any of the known faiths including Christianity, allow for marriages among same sexes, whether men or women. These religious institutions that are repositories of centuries of wisdom had a variety of reasons for not allowing such institutionalized relationships.”

Neinu also said, “As first described in Genesis, marriage is a God-ordained, covenant relationship between a man and a woman.”

“Notwithstanding what is in the scriptures, the Naga people have traditionally followed age-old wisdom and have believed in the holy union of man and woman which is marriage,” the NPF leader said.

Therefore, Neinu said, what is being proposed is “unwise and not only against centuries of wisdom but also against popular thought and belief in Nagaland and elsewhere in India and the rest of the world.”

He expressed his view that the Supreme Court should not allow legalized-sex marriage. “The Supreme Court of India is hearing a case relating to allowing same-sex marriages. It is a case of a very sensitive nature and one that can have far-reaching implications on the nature of society existing for years and on the very foundations of traditions upheld for millennia,” Neinu said.

Expressing apprehension of the “practical fallout” of a move to legalize same-sex marriage, Neinu said India itself will have to amend a host of laws relating to inheritance and even custody of children in case of separation of partners due to the debatable nature of “who is the man and who is wife.” This, he said, will lead to further complications and legal tangles that may not be easy to resolve.

“It may be impossible to reconcile such a change with respect to Naga customary law,” he observed.

Neinu said that it will be an “unwise and impractical move” to legalize same-sex marriage. He said India legalized homosexuality in 2018 following a Supreme Court order and added that this was largely tolerated and accepted, “even if grudgingly by many.”

“But NPF foresees that legalizing same-sex marriages may have a more unsavoury reaction from the society at large,” Neinu maintained.