Legal Recognition of Same Sex Relationship: A Comparative Study of India and U.S.A.

Legal protection to same sex relationship forms a major right for the LGBTQ community; it’s their right to choose their own partner and to be able to enjoy all rights that a heterosexual couple enjoys without any discrimination. While there are countries where the same sex couples receive equal legal recognition as any other couple, there are some countries where there is no law that legally recognizes a marriage or relationship of a same sex couple. This paper is an attempt at analysing the position of same sex couples before law in two such countries i.e., U.S.A. and India where one give all the benefits and recognition to a same sex couple that a heterosexual couple receives and the other though does not out rightly prohibits same sex relationship yet has no law that allows equal recognition to them. This paper is an comparative study between these two countries that talks about the origin of LGBTQ rights to the their present status and what the future holds for them. Here the author has also made an attempt to understand the underlying issue behind the difference in legal status and as to whether the people and society and their prejudice has any role in it and if so should they be allowed to call shots in such situation.