Sapporo Court: The Japanese Government Unconstitutional, Not Recognize Same-Sex Partners

Illustration. (Unsplash/Dil)

JAKARTA - For the first time in history, a court in Japan ruled on Wednesday 17 March that the government's failure to recognize same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, violating the right to equality.

This was stated by the Sapporo District Court when hearing the lawsuit of two same-sex couples and one same-sex couple in Hokkaido. The three of them were known to have tried to register same-sex marriage in January 2019 but were rejected because same-sex marriage in Japan does not have legal status.

However, the court rejected a request for compensation of 1 million yen filed by each couple, citing psychological damage caused by what they said was the government's negligence in not changing the law to allow them to marry.

Launching Kyodo News, the court sided with the couple who claimed the government violated Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to equality. The essence of the lawsuit revolves around the interpretation of marriage in Article 24 of the Constitution.

"Marriage must be based solely on the mutual consent of both sexes and must be maintained through cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis", the article reads.

Plaintiffs' lawyers argue that the purpose of the article is to maintain gender equality and individual respect, and not to preclude marriages between the same sexes.

However, the government interprets the article to only apply to heterosexual couples. It also indicates that the term 'husband and wife' is used in civil law and family registration law to refer to both men and women. So, cannot accept marriage applications from same-sex couples.

This decision is considered a major symbolic victory, in which the constitution only recognizes the marriage of opposite-sex couples. LGBT activists in Japan also warmly welcomed this decision.

"I am very happy. Until the decision is announced, we do not know this is what we will get and I am very happy", said the director of the activist group Marriage for All Japan and representatives at Pride House Tokyo.

Although Japanese law is relatively liberal by Asian standards, social attitudes have made the LGBT community largely invisible in the world's third-largest economy.

Under current regulations, same-sex couples are not allowed to marry, cannot inherit their spouse's assets, such as the house they may share in, nor have parental rights over their partner's children.

Although partnership certificates issued by individual cities assist same-sex couples to rent joint premises and have hospital visitation rights, they still do not grant them the same full legal rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples.