Jeffrey A. Redding (University of Melbourne - Law School) has posted Queer and Religious Alliances in India and Beyond (Law School Policy Review (The Queer Column) (2023)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
A number of recent political and legal controversies in India have highlighted conflicts between religious and queer interests. However, this contribution explores not quotidian conflict but queer–religious cooperation. In a recent volume co-edited by Nausica Palazzo and myself, Queer and Religious Alliances in Family Law Politics and Beyond (New York: Anthem Press, 2022), the prospects of queer–religious alliance (or friendship even) was explored by authors writing from diverse jurisdictions. While broad, the geographical focus of this volume obviously left the political and social possibilities of hugely important parts of the world underexplored for the time being. Yet self-consciously queer movements and agendas continue to increase in number and scope globally, and the hope was that other scholars and commentators would view this 2022 volume as an invitation to seriously consider the prospect of queer–religious alliances and friendships in Asia, Africa, and South America (amongst other places). In India, there are a number of queer–religious alliances oriented around substantive legal issues that can be contemplated. Here I focus on one such issue, namely the ‘freedom to identify.' This value is hugely important for gender and religious minorities in India yet is currently undervalued by the formal Indian legal system.
