In Japan, progress towards legal recognition of same-sex marriage has been slow. However, crowds of cheering, flag-waving supporters came together for the nation’s first full Pride parade in four years on Sunday in Tokyo, ahead of next month’s Group of Seven (G7) summit. Japan is the only G7 industrial power that does not currently recognise same-sex marriage. Despite this, growing support from major companies and the top business lobby is putting pressure on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government and his conservative ruling party to make changes.
Around 10,000 people are estimated to have marched in Sunday’s Pride parade in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. ‘Japan is really far behind…We will fight until the entire country has same-sex marriage,’ said one participant.
Japan’s constitution defines marriage as being between ‘both sexes’ and mentions ‘the equal rights of husband and wife’. To allow same-sex marriage, an amendment to its civil code would be necessary. Some lawmakers have vowed to pass a law promoting ‘understanding of LGBTQ’ ahead of the G7 summit, but activists and business leaders have called this a step that falls short of Japan’s G7 commitment to ensuring equal rights and anti-discrimination measures for LGBTQ.
While progress has been slow, the number of municipalities allowing same-sex couples to enter partnership agreements in Japan has increased significantly from 26 to around 300 since the last pre-pandemic Pride parade in 2019, covering roughly 65% of the population. However, these agreements do not grant partners the right to inherit each other’s assets or parental rights to each other’s children, and hospital visits are not guaranteed.
In March 2021, a district court in Japan’s Sapporo ruled the nation’s ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional, arguing that laws or regulations that deprive same-sex couples of the legal benefits of marriage are discriminatory and violate Article 14 of the Japanese Constitution. The court also ruled that Article 24 of the Constitution, which defines marriage as ‘based only on the mutual consent of both sexes’, does not prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriages. However, in June 2022, another district court, this one in Osaka, upheld the constitutionality of the ban on same-sex marriage. Despite this setback, the Pride parade in Tokyo demonstrates that there is growing support for LGBTQ+ rights in Japan, and that the fight for legal recognition of same-sex marriage continues.
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