Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Democrats pressure Japan to advance LGBTQ+ rights
Ahead of the Group of Seven summit this May, U.S. Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez has urged Japan to move forward on legislation that protects its LGBTQ+ citizens.
Local activists have been calling on the government to legalise same-sex marriage country-wide and, out of the G7 countries, Japan is the only one that doesn’t have that protection.
While a landmark ruling from 2021 declared that queer citizens should have the right to get married in the country, a Japanese court recently ruled that banning same-sex marriage is constitutional.
Currently, the country’s constitution defines marriage as “mutual consent between both sexes” and bans same-sex marriage. The document also states that gay couples are unable to inherit each other’s assets or share parental rights over each other’s kids.
