Same-sex marriage is still illegal in Poland and Japan

In Poland, after eight years with the homophobic far right in power, the new liberal government is giving signs of hope for change by evoking a PACS project for all. On the contrary, in Japan, the nationalist right in power shows no desire to change the law.

While 20 years ago, on June 5, 2004, Noël Mamère, environmentalist mayor of Bègles, celebrated the first homosexual marriage in France, nine years before the Taubira law legalizing marriage for all, the Correspondents’ Club makes a first stop in Poland, one of the most homophobic countries in Europe. And if we are still far from marriage for same-sex couples, the election of Donald Tusk in December 2023 gave hope to the LGBTQ+ community, after eight years with PiS, the openly homophobic far-right at the head of the country.

Then we will go to Japan, the only G7 country that does not legally recognize same-sex marriage. The situation is unlikely to change quickly. There is a very strong reluctance, not to say a strong opposition, from the nationalist right in power for almost 70 years almost without interruption, and it has no desire to seriously discuss any evolution of the law .

Poland: Donald Tusk wants to “right the wrongs”

The Polish Prime Ministerwants to right the wrongs of the previous government“, he declared during his recent election. The last eight years have been catastrophic for the LGBTQ+ community. The PiS, in power between 2015 and October 2023, was openly homophobic. It hammered home the idea that it existed an LGBT ideology, which made “propaganda” in the country. A perpetual hate speech which has led to real homophobic laws. Like the creation of anti-LGBT zones in certain very conservative cities.

Poland has attracted criticism from many international actors, and the European Union has even come to sanction Warsaw for these zones. Brussels has blocked financial aid to the cities which have set up these zones. Eventually, they gradually disappear under pressure, although some remain because it is managed by the mayors, not the Prime Minister. But the situation clearly shows that we are far from opening debates on same-sex marriage in Poland.

Donald Tusk recently declared that his bill to authorize civil unions for same-sex couples was ready. This was one of his key points during the campaign for the legislative elections. But he announced that he was waiting for the right window of opportunity for the entire coalition to which he is attached to support the project. And there, it is not won. Because if the Left Party is for it, the Christian Democrats of the Third Way, the second force in the coalition, could oppose it. As they did for the authorization of the morning after pill.

Unless the European Union forces Poland to authorize same-sex civil unions. In December, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of five Polish homosexual couples who filed a complaint against their country. They demanded legal recognition of their relationships. The court said Poland had violated the European Convention on Human Rights and was therefore obliged to introduce legal protection for same-sex couples.

Japan: the nationalist right in power is dragging its feet

Same-sex marriage is still not legal in Japan and the executive has no plans to change the law. He drags out the subject, as shown by the comments of government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi: “We believe that it is necessary to continue to carefully follow the opinions of different layers of society, the discussions in Parliament and even the legal appeals.“. Letting the situation drag on without doing anything is basically the same discourse for ages.

However, courts have already ruled the non-recognition of homosexual marriage in the civil code unconstitutional. “The recognition of marriage between two people of the same sex is not one of the cases provided for by the Constitution. We consider that the absence of regulations on same-sex marriage is not contrary to the Constitution“, defends Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He bases this on the fact that the decisions of the regional courts are not all homogeneous or final.

The Japanese right has a very narrow vision of the notion of family, which according to them is made up of a father, a mother and legitimate children. Other family settings are considered, if not abnormal, at least not desirable. Public opinion has evolved significantly and is now mostly in favor of marriage for all, but the powerful ultra-conservative influence groups hiding behind the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) are having difficulty concealing their real aversion to sexual minorities.

In the absence of real rights, homosexual couples receive union certificates from local authorities which make their daily life a little easier, for example for joint rental of accommodation, but this has no legal value. Although homophobic physical attacks are rare, the social marginalization of homosexuals remains real to the point that a Japanese lesbian couple managed to obtain asylum in Canada in 2023.