Tokyo’s metropolitan government will initiate a process that effectively allows same-sex marriage in Japan’s capital from April next year, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said on Tuesday.
The city’s local government, with a population of 14 million people, plans to introduce “same-sex marriage” after its local assembly unanimously called for the change, Kyodo told Kyodo.
Some local districts in Tokyo, as well as some other municipalities, have already introduced a similar plan that officially recognizes same-sex couples. This gives some of the same rights as married heterosexual couples.
But critics say LGBTQIA+ couples still face disadvantages in areas such as taxation, even under such partnership agreements.
A local court in Sapporo, northern Japan, ruled in March of this year that the fact that same-sex couples cannot marry is “unconstitutional”. This was the country’s first decision on the legality of same-sex marriage.
Homosexuality has been legal in Japan since 1880, and the country is relatively liberal compared to some other Asian nations. The only place in Asia that has legalized same-sex marriage is Taiwan.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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