A Young Matchmaker Is Setting Up Arranged Marriages For Gay Couples In India
Posted on August 3, 2017
NEWNOWNEXT – Aug 2 – Urvi Shah, a young entrepreneur in India, is playing matchmaker, arranging marriages between gay singles in a country where homosexuality is still technically illegal. She launched the International Marriage Bureau for Gays and Lesbians (IAGM) in 2015. Since then, IAGM has helped 21 couples in India, and ~100 couples internationally, form long-term partnerships and marriages. Homosexuality was decriminalized in India in 2009 but, just four years later, the country's Supreme Court reinstated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, making same-sex relations illegal once more. Despite the fact that 95% of the population believes it the law should be repealed, marriage equality is still a distant dream for LGBT Indians. As a workaround, some of the couples who used Shah's service have gone abroad the knot. Others have had symbolic ceremonies, and some just remain personally committed to their relationships.
