Japan’s same-sex marriage ban ruled ‘unconstitutional’ as India’s LGBTQ community waits in hope

• A local court in Japan has ruled the country’s failure to recognise same-sex marriages as ‘unconstitutional’.
• According to a court in Sapporo, the stance is at odds with the constitutionally-guaranteed right to equality.
• In India, the Delhi High Court is hearing a similar case, in which the central government has said that same-sex marriages are not at par with the Indian concept of a ‘family unit’.
  

A Japanese court has ruled the island nation’s stance to not recognise same-sex marriages as ‘unconstitutional’ in a symbolic win for the LGBTQ community.

The country’s constitution asserts that marriage is a union between ‘both sexes’ in Article 14, which means individuals of the same gender cannot get married.

However, according to a district court in Sapporo — capital city of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido — this is at odds with the constitutional right to equality.

Japan is not the only Asian country fighting to legalise same-sex marriages. India, too, is facing push back from the government even though homosexuality was officially decrimalised in 2018 — three years ago.

Japan’s symbolic win
While the bench rejected the compensation claim of the plaintiffs for one million yen (around $9,000) per person for being denied the same rights as heterosexual couple, it ruled that not allowing people of the same gender to get married was ‘unconstitutional’ since the right to equality takes precedence.

Even though this does not mean that same-sex marriage is legal on the island nation, the judgement is being lauded as a symbolic victory within the local LGBTQ community.

“This is one huge step forward in Japan. We are moving closer to making our dream come true,” Ai Nakajima, who was one the original plaintiffs in the case, told BBC.

The island nation is considered to be among one of the most developed nations in the world. Yet, it is the only country with the Group of Seven (G7) — which includes France, Germany, the US, the UK, Canada, and Italy — that does not allow same-sex marriage.

The fight to legalise same-sex marriage in India is still facing road blocks
India only decriminalised homosexuality two years ago. Before the Supreme Court’s ruling, Section 377 left individuals of the LGBTQ community open to harassment, beatings and blackmail.

As recently as last month India’s government told the Delhi High Court, “Family issues are far beyond mere recognition and registration of marriage between persons belonging to the same gender.”

The Modi-administration communicated that the ‘Indian family unit’ concept comprises a ‘biological man’ as the husband, a ‘biological woman’ as the wife and the children born out of union between the two. It asserted that Western ideas cannot be imported to the Indian context, citing the Indian constitutional law and jurisprudence.

The court has posted the matter for further hearing on April 20.

The fight to legalise same-sex marriage is a tough one world over. Out of the 195 countries around the globe, same-sex marriage is only officially legal in 29, according to the Pew Reserach Centre.

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