A Japanese court ruled this Friday that The Japanese Government’s position of not recognizing same-sex marriage is unconstitutionalwhile the Executive continues without taking steps to modify the regulations and recognize these unions.
The Fukuoka High Court became the third high court to rule that the ban is unconstitutional, although it upheld a lower court’s ruling and dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim for damages. That lower court had noted last year that the ban on same-sex marriage is in a “state of unconstitutionality,” a term seen as a call for the Diet (Parliament) to address the law’s inconsistency with the Constitution.
Today’s ruling follows a lawsuit filed by three same-sex couples living in Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures, who alleged that the denial of same-sex marriage violates the Constitution.
Last October, another Japanese high court also ruled that the country’s lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The ruling then by the Tokyo High Court was issued after the Tokyo District Court determined in 2022 that the ban on same-sex marriage is in a “state of unconstitutionality.”
The legal battle over gay marriage is being carried out based on two articles of Japan’s Magna Carta. The plaintiffs base their complaints on article 14, which stipulates equality before the law and non-discrimination in political, economic or social relations on the basis of race, creed, sex, social condition or origin.
The Government maintains that the Constitution does not recognize marriage between people of the same sex and therefore its position remains constitutional, since its article 24 defines marriage “based solely on the mutual consent of both sexes”, understanding that it can only be between a man and a woman.
Between 2021 and 2024, nearly a dozen first-instance rulings have been issued on the matter, most of them pointing out that this lack of recognition in homosexual unions is unconstitutional or violates the rights included in the Magna Carta.
In the first ruling by a higher court earlier this year, the Sapporo High Court (north) said the lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage in the country is unconstitutional, upholding a lower court’s ruling in 2021. None of the courts have, however, agreed to provide financial compensation for damages to the plaintiffs.
Japan remains the only country in the Group of Seven that has not legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions, despite growing pressure from the LGBT community in the Asian country.
