Japan: Tokyo Governor announces legalising same-sex marriage this fiscal year

In a major victory for the LGBTQ community, the Tokyo governor announced to legalize same-sex marriage, reported Japan Times. While announcing the historic decision, Governor Yuriko Koike said the government will draft a basic policy to acknowledge same-sex marriages this fiscal year.

It is worth mentioning that Japan is the only country among the G7 group of seven nations that does not accept same-sex marriage. The Japanese constitution states, "Wedlock shall be only with the mutual assent of both sexes."

Japan court allowed same-sex marriage in March

Earlier in March this year, a Japanese court, for the first time, said that same-sex marriage should be allowed under the country’s constitution. While affirming the judgement, the Sapporo District Court had said that marriage does not depend on race and gender.

The court added that marriage is always a matter of "individual preference" and added that preventing same-sex couples from getting any government-sponsored benefits are "unlawful", AP reported.

"Legal benefits stemming from marriages should equally benefit both homosexuals and heterosexuals,(asterisk)," AP cited a copy of the summary of the ruling.

"Not allowing same-sex marriages violates Article 14 of the Japanese constitution, which prohibits discrimination "because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin," Judge Tomoko Takebe had said.

PM Fumio Kishida denies LGBTQ demand

Despite the court judgement, then Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga did not accept the judgement citing "social barriers". Since then, several LGBTQ communities across Japan demonstrated against the government's decision.

Perceiving the significance and global attention of the Olympics held in the national capital this year, Japanese sexual minority groups submitted requests to the governing Liberal Democratic Party. However, their requests did not gather much attention from the then Prime Minister, resulting in the widespread criticism of Suga.

After the Olympics concluded and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida came to power, the LGBTQ community again forced the government to take a concrete step on their demand. However, the newly appointed PM categorically denied their long-pending demands, saying, "During his party's leadership race, we had not reached the point of accepting same-sex marriage," according to Japan Times.

However, after the governor's decision, the LGBTQ community felt relaxed and expected to get their "fundamental rights" soon.

With inputs from AP

Image: AP