LGBTQ groups cheer Tokyo's same-sex partnership move as big step forward

FILE PHOTO: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike attends a news conference, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, in Tokyo, Japan, November 24, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese LGBTQ rights activists on Wednesday hailed Tokyo's move to introduce a same-sex partnership system as a huge step in their fight for equality in the only G7 country that does not fully recognise same-sex marriage.

Under plans announced by Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike on Tuesday, partnerships would be allowed early next year and made legal in the fiscal year beginning April 2022, vastly expanding the number of people in Japan who can benefit.