Deconstructing Family: Adoption, Kinship and Family Diversity in India

Recently, a 5-bench Constitutional Court gave a 3:2 verdict against the Constitutionality of same-sex marriages in India. The minority opinion upheld the right to adopt. However, the influence of societal norms related to gender and sexuality on citizenship is evident in the State's regulation of private relationships through marriage and kinship laws. This presents a complex issue for the LGBTQ+ community, as it challenges traditional heterosexual family structures and often results in the marginalized status of non-conventional relationship forms. While the decriminalization of same-sex relationships based on privacy rights is a significant development in India, it fails to fundamentally question the societal structures that uphold heteronormativity.

In this paper, I critically analyse the Indian adoption laws, which, due to their exclusion of LGBTQI families and non-marital relationships, adopt a limited perspective on what constitutes a family. I argue that the State's power to validate certain unions while disregarding others needs to be questioned. The distinction made between married couples and other forms of companionship, particularly in terms of parental rights, is arbitrary. I emphasize the need to revaluate the State's role in regulating personal relationships, especially in the context of adoption laws in India. To address this, I utilize a queer theory and critical kinship studies framework that challenges conventional family structures and the reproductive heterosexual and explores the concept ‘family diversity’ in the Indian context, thereby challenging the naturalization of heteronormative kinship and parenting.