Indian chief minister hailed for rejecting same-sex marriage

A Church group in India’s Northeast has welcomed a politician rejecting a poll promise of the Congress party that pledged marriage rights for the LGBTQIA+ community if voted to power.

The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), an influential Church group in north-eastern India, has consistently denounced the LGBTQIA lifestyle. Same-sex “is a sin according to the Biblical teachings,” Reverend Zelhou Keyho, general secretary of the NBCC, told UCA News on April 23.

The group was supporting Neiphiu Rio, chief minister of Christian-majority Nagaland state, who, during a campaign in neighboring Manipur state on April 21, said that same-sex marriage “is not acceptable.”