Tokyo | The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has announced that it will recognize same-sex unions, while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday reiterated his deep reservations about the possible legalization of gay marriage.
“In response to the wishes of the people of Tokyo and those affected by this subject, we will be making preparations to recognize same-sex unions” by early 2023, Ms Koike said on Tuesday.
The Tokyo district of Shibuya was the first local authority in the country to offer same-sex union certificates in 2015.
Other districts of Tokyo and several Japanese departments followed. And a hundred Japanese local authorities currently offer such certificates.
On Twitter, the activist organization Marriage for All Japan welcomed Ms. Koike’s announcement, while recalling that the scope of these certificates is symbolic and calling on the government to “hurry” to recognize gay marriage.
Indeed, in the absence of national legislation, the usefulness of these local documents remains very limited, beyond sometimes simplifying certain procedures such as renting a shared apartment or being authorized to visit a spouse in the hospital.
Very few gay couples in Japan have obtained such certificates so far.
Japan is the latest G7 country not to recognize marriage for all, although a majority of the population is now in favor, according to polls.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (PLD, conservative right) has been slowing down on the issue for years, arguing that same-sex unions are “not provided for” by the Constitution, which has never been amended since it came into force in 1947.
“There should be no discrimination, but the introduction of same-sex marriage is a question that touches the real foundation of what constitutes a family in our country,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned in Parliament on Wednesday.
“So it is necessary that discussions be conducted with extreme caution,” he insisted.
Coming to power at the beginning of October, Mr. Kishida had already confided in September that he had “not reached the point of accepting” a change in the law on this point.
A dozen homosexual couples in Japan have initiated legal actions against the state since 2019 to obtain legal recognition of their unions.
In March of this year, they obtained a first victory when a court in Sapporo (northern Japan) ruled that the non-recognition of same-sex marriage was against the Constitution, because it guarantees equality. of all citizens before the law.