Kochi – ‘Same-sex marriage violates the right of children to be born and raised within a marriage’ communicated the Syro-Malabar Public Affairs Commission in an official letter addressed the President of India.

The Central government had sought responses from the public pursuing the Supreme Court's request for the government's position on the petition to legalize same-sex marriage. The Syro-Malabar Public Affairs Commission has thus officially communicated the Church’s response to the President.

The response reads as follows
The Church appreciates the Central Government's stand in the Supreme Court on the counter affidavit that as in the cultural sphere of India, marriage is a relationship between two persons of opposite sex and family consists of a biological man, a biological woman and the children born to them.

The Church, who adheres to scripture, tradition and church teachings, holds the same moral view and opposes efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. This is because same-sex marriage violates the right of children to be born and raised within a marriage; it is a denial of human nature constituted as male and female; it is an injustice to the family system and society.

Legalizing same-sex marriage could lead to calls for the legalization of sexual perversions such as attraction to children, attraction to animals, and attraction between biological relatives. It (legalisation) should hence be not allowed. The Church however treats those with psychological and physical deviations at the level of sexuality with compassion and opposes discrimination against them.

At the same time, the Syro-Malabar Church in its response said that the church unequivocally declares the position that marriage is a relationship between a woman and a man.