Mahima
Sapporo District Court in Hokkaido, Japan, has delivered a landmark judgment by declaring country’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.
Japan is the only Group of Seven (G7) nation that neither recognise same-sex civil unions nor same-sex marriage.
Three couples had filed a lawsuit claiming damages of one million yen ($9,160) for the psychological harm that was caused to them as that they were denied the same legal rights which are available to heterosexual couples. The claim was rejected initially.
The verdict maintains that failure to provide ways for homosexual marriages to
“Enjoy even a part of the legal effects that arise from marriage… violates Article 14 (equality before law)”
However, it did not uphold the demand of the damages considering the struggle of lawmakers to legislate on the issue.
A male plaintiff outside the courthouse expressed his happiness,
“I could not hold back my tears. The court sincerely gave its thorough attention to our problem and I think it issued truly a good decision”.
Kanako Otsuji, opposition lawmaker and one of the few Japanese politicians who is openly LGBT, tweeted her happiness by the verdict,
“With this ruling, I urge the Diet, as the legislative branch of the government, to deliberate a proposed amendment to the civil code to make same-sex marriage possible.”
Law in Japan:
Japan is relatively liberal as compared to other Asian countries and had legalised homosexuality long back.
Japan’s constitution specifies that marriage shall be only with the mutual consent of both sexes.
While the government uses this clause to maintain that same-sex marriage is ‘not foreseen’ in the constitutional or civil law, the lawyers and legal experts counter that it doesn’t prohibit same-sex marriage.
According to the lawyers for plaintiffs and the legal experts, the language of the post-war constitution is merely to ensure equality between potential spouses and prevent forced marriages.
Nn ordinance was passed by Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district which allowed issuance of ‘partnership certificates’ to homosexual couples which would entitle them to some of the rights as married heterosexual couples. Other municipalities have also passed ordinances recognizing same-sex marriages unofficially.
With the industrialization and modernisation, the western prejudice against homosexuality also grew in a historically tolerant Japan as the documented cases of samurai warriors having male lovers suggest.