TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s top court ruled Thursday that denying same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and called on the government to take urgent action to address the lack of a law allowing same-sex marriages.
The court has the power to overturn the existing marriage law, which has been interpreted as restricting marriage between a man and a woman. Government departments can continue to deny marriage prestige to same-sex couples unless existing law is revised to accommodate LGBTQ. couples, or a new law is enacted allowing other types of unions.
The Sapporo High Court ruling said that not allowing same-sex couples to marry and the same benefits as heterosexual couples violates their basic right to start a family.
A lower court issued a similar ruling last Thursday, allowing the sixth district court to do so. But the Tokyo District Court’s ruling is only a partial victory for marriage rights equivalent to Japan’s LGBTQ network, as it does not replace or overturn the existing civil union law that describes marriage as between a man and a woman.
Five previous district court rulings have declared Japan’s policy of denying same-sex marriage unconstitutional or nearly unconstitutional. However, unlike the Sapporo ruling, none of the lower courts obviously found the existing marriage law to be unconstitutional.
Japan is the only industrialized G-7 country that does not allow same-sex marriage. But, as CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports, the momentum for renewal is growing, thanks in large part to couples who have come out of the shadows. Promote equality and inclusion, despite personal risks.
Palmer says banners and streamers were hung in July for Tokyo’s first large-scale Pride parade since the coronavirus pandemic. It is a party and a political collection to push for the right to same-sex marriage.
U. S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel joined the crowd and voiced his support, saying he may already “glimpse a moment in Japan’s future” when, “as the United States . . . where there is no heterosexual marriage. . . There is no same-sex marriage. . . there is marriage. “
Kane Hirata and Kotfei Katsuyama, who have spokespeople for the cause, proudly joined the parade that day.
When asked why they thought their country was the only one in the G7 that did not allow same-sex marriage, Katsuyama told CBS News that Japan’s ruling political party has close ties to fringe devout sects and staunchly conservative anti-LGBTQ groups.
A hard-right minority in Japan’s parliament has for years blocked primary adjustments to the country’s marriage laws.