Tokyo Same-Sex Couples Start Receiving Partnership Certificates
In what LGBTQ+ people in Japan hope is a harbinger of marriage equality, Tokyo’s city government began issuing partnership certificates to same-sex couples Tuesday.The certificates allow the couples’ unions to be recognized for services such as housing and health care, but they do not confer any rights when it comes to inheritance, adoption, or spousal visas, the BBC reports.Japan is the only country in the G7, an association of countries with advanced economies, that does not have marriage equality.
Several smaller municipal governments, including parts of Tokyo, have already offered partnership recognition that confers some but not all the rights of marriage.
As of Tuesday, the certificates are available throughout Tokyo.Polling indicates that a majority of Japanese citizens support marriage equality, but there has been resistance from politicians.
And this year a court in Osaka upheld the nation’s ban on same-sex marriage, after a court in Sapporo had ruled the ban unconstitutional previously.LGBTQ+ activists tried to push for greater equality ahead of the Tokyo Olympics last year, but little has changed.
