on thursday lgbtqia rights activists in india who are now fighting for marriage rights were in for major disappointment in an affidavit filed in reply to a petition by samesex couples seeking enforcement of fundamental right of choice of partner the government told the delhi high court despite the decriminalisation of section 377 of the ipc the petitioners cannot claim a fundamental right for samesex marriage being recognised under the laws of the country we spoke to nikesh usha pushkaran and sonu ms the first gay couple who moved court seeking the legalisation of samesex marriages in india about their take on the issue nikesh says we were the first in the country to file a writ petition in the kerala high court hc on january 24 2020 demanding the recognition of samesex marriages so that gay couples can claim rights like marriage adoption or inheritance we had anticipated that the response of the central government would not be in favour of us according to nikesh as far as he has understood the decision about legalising same sex marriage will be taken considering the majoritarian opinion i dont think it is fair to let the masses decide the rights of a minority community like lgbtqia if it is moved to parliament which has a heterosexual majority we will never gain justice we have a humble request to the court to listen to our concerns and avail us our basic human rights the centre has given its opinion for the petitions filed in the delhi high court in october 2020 our petition at the kerala high court is waiting for the central and state governments response we had written to kerala chief minister pinarayi vijayan and social welfare minister kk shailaja teacher we are hopeful about the states opinion he says he further says we live with a feeling of inferiority when heterosexuals ask questions about our relationship recently we saw two girls in vaikom taking their lives due to familial disagreement on their relationship nobody speaks about what we go through like in legalising section 377 which faced a lot of resistance initially same sex marriage too will have opposition but we are sure that equality of rights will be protected by our courts