TOKYO: Marriage equality campaigners urged Japan's top court on Wednesday (Dec 3) to rule the country's failure to recognise same-sex unions "unconstitutional", following a recent setback at the Tokyo High Court.
The Tokyo court ruled last week that Japan's refusal to acknowledge same-sex marriages does not violate the constitution, in a shock to the LGBTQ community.
More than a dozen couples have filed claims across Japan, seeking damages from the state for preventing them from getting married.
In five of the six lawsuits, high courts ruled the same-sex marriage ban was "unconstitutional".
The ruling in Tokyo was the first loss in a high court for those seeking equal marriage rights, and they have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, plaintiffs from the northern island of Hokkaido to the southern region of Kumamoto gathered with their lawyers to file a letter to the top court.
"I'm truly shocked by the high court ruling," Shinya Yamagata, one of the plaintiffs, told reporters.
"I never imagined that the judiciary would discriminate against us and would wound our hearts so deeply," he said.
"What we seek is simply the ordinary right to marry," another plaintiff Haru Ono said.
Ono, who raised three children together with her partner, said she "faced various hardships" including hospital visits that only one parent was able to join.
The letter requested that the Supreme Court "exercise its authority and responsibility as a bastion of human rights and deliver a clear ruling of unconstitutionality".
It asked the court to consider the lives of people who dreamed of marrying but were "consistently excluded from the legal marriage system".
Japan is the only G7 nation that does not recognise same-sex unions.
However, in Asia, only Taiwan, Thailand and Nepal allow same-sex marriage.
Opinion polls show growing support for LGBTQ-friendly laws in Japan but the conservative ruling party espouses traditional family values and new prime minister Sanae Takaichi is opposed to same-sex unions.
Dozens of major municipalities, including Tokyo, now offer partnership certificates that allow same-sex couples to be treated as married in certain areas such as housing, medicine and welfare.
Many big Japanese businesses also offer the same family benefits to LGBTQ and heterosexual employees.
Japan's 1947 constitution says marriage requires "the mutual consent of both sexes" but it also states that all people "are equal under the law". - AFP
