A Japanese court has ruled the country’s gay marriage ban constitutional — reversing a trend set by courts across the country that had raised hopes for marriage equality in Japan.
The decision disappointed the plaintiffs and their legal team who gathered outside the Tokyo courthouse.
Japan is the only G7 country that does not fully recognize same-sex couples or provide them with explicit legal protection. But this is no exception in Asia, where only Taiwan, Thailand and Nepal offer same-sex marriage.
Judge Ayumi Higashi, who handed down the ruling, said laws on gay marriage should first be considered in parliament, the Mainichi reported.
Outside the Tokyo courthouse on Friday, plaintiffs in the case and their legal team held signs reading “unjust verdict,” local media reported.
Shino Kawachi, one of the plaintiffs, told local media that the decision was “difficult to understand”.
“What is justice? Was the court even looking at us? Were they thinking about the next generation?” he told local media.
His partner, Hiromi Hatogai, said she was “extremely angry” and wondered whether the judiciary was “on our side”. But, he added, they would “keep fighting”.
Amnesty International described the decision as “a damaging step forward on gay marriage”.
“The Japanese government needs to be proactive in moving toward legalizing same-sex marriage so that couples can fully enjoy the same marriage rights as their heterosexual counterparts,” Boram Zhang, the rights group’s East Asia researcher, said in a statement.
Friday’s ruling is the last of six high court rulings on gay marriage lawsuits filed between 2019 and 2021 in courts across the country from Sapporo to Osaka and Fukuoka.
Five of them found the ban unconstitutional – although they rejected the plaintiffs’ compensation claims.
Friday’s decision by the Tokyo High Court represents an exception to this series of rulings, which had been pushing for the legalization of gay marriage in Japan.
After this the cases will be taken to the Supreme Court.
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