As Japan court ruling nears, LGBT groups hope for new milestone in fight for equality
- A year after a Sapporo court found the national government’s failure to recognise same-sex marriages was unconstitutional, a court in Osaka is set to rule in a similar case
- While similar verdict will boost Japan’s equality campaign, activists say there’s a way to go until LGBT couples are afforded identical rights on tax, housing and social security
For Japan’s LGBT community, March 17, 2021, remains a red-letter day. That was when a Sapporo district court ruled that the national government’s failure to recognise same-sex marriages was a breach of the constitution.
While the court rejected the plaintiffs’ request for compensation of 1 million yen (US$7,500) per person for being denied the same rights as heterosexuals, the ruling is still regarded as a breakthrough.
Activists hope that June 20 will be a new milestone, as a court in Osaka is set to rule in a similar case demanding equality for residents of Japan, the only G7 member that has yet to legally recognise same-sex marriages.
A repeat of that verdict would give further impetus to the equality campaign, and there is a sense in Japan the tide has turned, although others caution there is still some way to go in a nation that remains conservative in many of its attitudes.
“Although terms such as ‘homosexuality’ and ‘LGBT’ are gradually becoming more commonplace, there is still discrimination and prejudice that prevents people from coming out as sexual minorities,” said Tomoya Hosoda, who in March 2017 became the first transgender man to be elected to office when he won a seat in the city council of Iruma in Saitama Prefecture.