File photo | Photo: Unsplash/Tallie Robinson
A lesbian couple in India has sought the protection of local police after their parents threatened to split them up.
The couple aged 20 and 18 have been together for about three years and said they want to get married.
They threatened to take their own lives if anyone tried to split them up.
The girl presented to the police station in the state of Uttar Pradesh with an application for marriage.
But since same-sex marriage is not legal in India, the girls will not be allowed to marry.
‘I cannot live without her and I don’t know why anyone has an objection if we are ready to stay together,’ one of the girls told media outside the police station.
The couple’s parents came to the station to try and resolve the issue but the girls were adamant they want to live together.
‘We are not going anywhere, (we) just want to stay together,’ the other girl said.
Local police superintendent, Shrawan Kumar Singh, said police have kept the women at the station until the matter is resolved. He also told media suicide was illegal in India.
Homosexual sex is outlawed under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Even though it is not illegal to be a lesbian in India, members of the LGBTI community face extreme homophobia and sometimes forced into heterosexual marriages.
Lesbians have it worse
The girls’ petition to get married comes in the same week another lesbian couple took their own lives in India.
30-year old Asha Thakor and 28-year old Bhavna Thakor took their own lives after facing ongoing stigma about their relationship.
LGBTI advocate Anjali Gopalan said lesbians were more likely than gay men to take their own lives in India.
‘They live a far worse life than gay men, a much tougher life, because there is largely more acceptance of male homosexuality,’ she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
‘Women’s sexuality is not discussed at all in India, making it much more challenging for them to come out.’
