Japanese politics is up for grabs after groundbreaking legal rulings on same-sex marriage

On the second floor of a renovated office building in the city of Nagoya, Yoko Mizutani unfolds a large piece of paper. The Japanese characters of shouso – victory in court – flaunt it big. “These are the congratulations we received when we won our last case,” says Mizutani proudly, pointing to the colorful messages her clients have written.

The fight to legalize same-sex marriage in Japan has mainly taken place in the courtroom in recent years. A total of thirty-five complainants across Japan filed six lawsuits against the government, ultimately forcing parliament to recognize equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Mizutani was involved as a lawyer in two of those lawsuits. “We are part of a broader movement,” she says. “And every victory brings us closer to our goal.”

One of the biggest victories came in May 2023, when a court in Nagoya – a city about 350 kilometers west of Tokyo – ruled that restricting marriage to heterosexual couples violates the constitutional right to marriage and with the right to equal treatment. Mizutani cooperated on that case.

Two years earlier, another court, in Sapporo, also found that equality before the law was violated by the ban on same-sex marriage. And earlier this month, a judge in Fukuoka said there was “no further justification at this point.” [is] not to legally recognize same-sex marriage.”

That ruling once again attracted a lot of attention in Japan: for the first time, a court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage violates Article 13 of the constitution, which guarantees the pursuit of happiness. “It is a signal that the time is ripe for real change in Japan,” says lawyer Mizutani.

But that change must come from politics. The Osaka court ruled two years ago that the government and parliament can determine whether the ban on same-sex marriage will remain in place. “Activism in the courtroom has its limits,” says Mizutani. “Ultimately, the law must change to make real progress. The judiciary has proven to be progressive in recent times, while parliament seems stuck in the past.”

Invisible for a long time

“Right now, there are more and more people in parliament who support our mission,” said Taiga Ishikawa in his office in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district. He is a member of the House of Lords, where he sits in opposition on behalf of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), and is one of only two openly gay parliamentarians in Japan.

The ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has actively prevented the legalization of equal marriage rights for many years. “It is frustrating to see how they have continued to postpone the discussion for decades,” said Ishikawa.

While LGBTI+ activists in the West waged a passionate political struggle for equal rights in the 1980s and 1990s, there was none in Japan. It was difficult to get attention for this subject in a society where homosexuality was not discussed, says the fifty-year-old politician: “Until I was 25, I didn’t know anyone else who was openly LGBT. That is very normal for many Japanese. You grow up without role models,” says Ishikawa. “It was only in 1999 that I realized for the first time that there were others like me. That was a revelation.”

A lot has changed, especially in the past ten years, he says. “We were invisible at first, but the advent of the internet and social media has made it much easier for us in the LGBTI+ community to find each other. That has contributed a lot to awareness about equal rights.”

Public opinion

Popular support for gay marriage has grown significantly in recent years. In 2018, about a third of Japanese were in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, but according to a poll by Kyodo News, this had now risen to 71 percent of the population in May 2023. Support is highest among young people: nine out of ten Japanese under thirty want equal rights for gay couples.

Support is also increasing rapidly at the local level. “We have had a partnership system in Shibuya and Setagaya townships since 2015,” says Ishikawa. “That was an important first step.” To date, 449 of the 1,718 municipalities and 29 of the 47 prefectures have introduced such a partnership program, offering legal and social recognition to LGBTI+ couples.

Only limited rights can be derived from these regulations. Unlike marriage, partnership certificates do not provide inheritance rights, tax benefits or joint custody of children. The certificates mainly have symbolic value and are intended to reduce discrimination. For example, in some cases, partners can gain access to hospitals just like family members, although these couples are still dependent on the willingness of healthcare institutions to recognize their partnership.

Partly for this reason, ten municipalities jointly submitted a request to the national government in Tokyo this month to also recognize the partnership system nationally.

Minority government

The growth of the partnership system reflects increasing public support for equal rights, but also exposes the gap between local initiatives and the national government’s reluctance to recognize same-sex marriage. “We are just people. People who want to be happy,” says 28-year-old bartender Hiromasa Wakasugi. He works at Dragon Men, a well-known gay bar in Shinjuku Nichome, the district in Tokyo where LGBTI+ people gather, and is getting ready to open the bar. “Mostly people from my generation come here. They are very open about their sexuality. Although I do notice that there is a generational difference.”

The young bartender turns on the cold tap and wets his cleaning wipes. “It’s unfair that I’m not allowed to get married,” he says disappointedly as he clears the tables. Suddenly he stops cleaning and looks up with a big smile: “It’s good that the LDP lost in the last elections. Maybe things will finally change now.”

In the national elections at the end of October, the ruling coalition lost its majority in the House of Commons. Plagued by corruption scandals, the ruling party LDP, which has been in power almost continuously since 1955, suffered a historic loss. The number of seats fell from 256 to 196. In contrast, the largest opposition party CDP made significant gains: their number of seats increased from 98 to 148.

Currently, no party has an absolute majority in parliament. This leads to a lot of political uncertainty, but also offers opportunities, says CDP MP Ishikawa optimistically. “You notice that the tone has already changed. The new Prime Minister has just said that he believes that gay couples also have the right to be happy,” he says. “It is not yet recognition, of course. You have to remember that change in Japan comes slowly, but it is coming. We are on the threshold of something big.”

We are just people. People who want to be happy

Ishikawa speaks of a historic momentum: “The judges recognized what many of us have been saying for years: that love knows no gender and that the law should reflect that.” Ishikawa believes that the fact that the judges in various rulings called the ban on gay marriage a violation of the basic rights of Japanese people is “a good development”. “But I would prefer to get it approved in parliament as quickly as possible. People are tired of waiting.”

To share





Email the editor