2023-06-08 15:15:53
There will still be a long way to go for the legalization of gay marriage in Japan, but the file is progressing. Last court of first instance to speak on the case, the court of Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan, estimated Thursday, June 8 that the absence of equality before marriage amounted to a “situation unconstitutional”. This does not yet mean a form of legalization of gay marriage in Japan, but it is an additional legal step that should eventually lead to official recognition of marriage for all.
“It’s a new small legal victory”welcomed Tetsu Takahashi, 32, from Tokyo. “A new court ruling on the unconstitutionality of the current marriage, everything is going in the right direction and I am convinced that the law will authorize me in a few years to marry my partner”, he adds. In fact, several coordinated legal actions have been launched since 2019 by LGBT+ activists order to order the Japanese State to pay damages to same-sex couples deprived of the possibility of marrying and therefore enjoying the rights and advantages associated with heterosexual marriage.
More broadly, their goal is to pressure the state to legally recognize same-sex unions, as all other G7 members and Taiwan have already done. only country in Asia to have recognized marriage for all, in 2019. Taiwanese LGBT + activists had to fight a long and difficult legal battle for more than ten years to achieve this legalization. Their method now inspires many other countries on the Asian continentwith the same argument: the prohibition of gay marriage was contrary to the Constitution which guarantees the equality of all before the law.
Timid proposals in Japan
In Japan, a dozen couples had launched proceedings before five courts of first instance across the country, from Sapporo (island of Hokkaido) to Tokyo via Nagoya (center), Osaka (West) and Fukuoka. All Courts Requested “agree at least on the need for legislation that publicly endorses same-sex unions and grants them legal protection equivalent to that of opposite-sex couples”, explained to Agence France-Presse Takeharu Kato, one of the lawyers who filed one of the procedures. Before the Fukuoka court, those in Sapporo, Tokyo and Nagoya had also considered that the absence of equality before marriage created a “unconstitutional situation”, without going any further. Several of these court decisions should be appealed.
Polls clearly show that Japanese public opinion is overwhelmingly supportive of gay marriage. In the world of work, many companies and municipalities offer same-sex couples benefits similar to those of married people. A timid bill aimed at “promote understanding” towards the LGBT+ community is expected to be approved by Parliament this month. But activists don’t want to settle for the same benefits: “What we want is marriage”said lawyer Takeharu Kato.
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