Opinion polls have generally found a majority in Japan back recognition of same-sex marriage, but the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been reluctant to push ahead with reforms. In a landmark ruling in March this year, a court in northern Sapporo said Japan's failure to recognise same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, in a verdict hailed by campaigners as a major victory.
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Last year, more than a dozen couples filed lawsuits across Japan challenging the constitutionality of the government's failure to recognise gay marriage. Many areas have followed suit, with activists saying 110 local governments now recognise same-sex partnerships, granting couples rights including the ability to visit a partner in hospital and rent property together.īut not all LGBT couples in Japan live in areas with such certificates - and even those who have them find they are sometimes not recognised. Tokyo's Shibuya district in 2015 became the first place in Japan to begin issuing symbolic "partnership" certificates to same-sex couples. "National government, hurry up on (recognising same-sex) marriage!" they added. She added that the city planned to introduce the policy by the end of the following financial year, ending March 2023.Īctivist group Marriage for All Japan welcomed the news in a tweet but noted "partnership doesn't have the same legal effects as marriage". "In response to the wishes of Tokyo residents and those concerned by this issue, we will draft a basic principle to recognise same-sex partnerships this fiscal year," Governor Yuriko Koike announced late Tuesday.
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Japan is the only nation of the Group of Seven countries that does not recognise same-sex unions, and its constitution stipulates that "marriage shall be only with the mutual consent of both sexes".īut in recent years, local authorities across the country have made their own moves to recognise same-sex partnerships, and activists have filed lawsuits hoping to push the national government to reverse course.