Chizuka Oe and Yoko Ogawa have been together for 25 years, but when they submitted their marriage registration at a Tokyo town hall, they knew it would be rejected.
“We were told that they cannot accept our registration because we are both women,” said Ogawa outside the building in western Tokyo.
“There were several heterosexual couples next to us who submitted marriage registrations without any problem,” she added.
Photo: AFP
The couple is planning to take action: Along with 12 other same-sex couples, they will file lawsuits on Valentine’s Day seeking to force the government to recognize same-sex marriage.
“Why don’t we even have the simple choice of whether or not to get married?” Ogawa said, adding that she and Oe were forced to wait a long time before ultimately being turned down.
The five lesbian and eight gay couples involved would file lawsuits across the country seeking damages of ￥1 million (US$9,032) per person for being denied the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.
Japan’s constitution stipulates that “marriage shall be only with the mutual consent of both sexes” and the government has said that this means same-sex marriage is “not foreseen” in the constitution or civil law.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs and legal experts counter that there is nothing in the constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriage.
They have said that the language of the 1947 post-war constitution is only meant to ensure equality between prospective spouses and prevent forced marriages.
The government’s failure to enact a law allowing same-sex marriage breaches the constitutional principle that “all people are equal under the law,” said Akiyoshi Miwa, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs.
A survey in January found that nearly 80 percent of Japanese aged 20 to 59 support legalizing same-sex marriage.
However, as Japan industrialized from the 19th century, Western prejudices against homosexuality were increasingly adopted.
Oe and Ogawa said they have struggled with confusion and prejudice stemming in part from Japan’s lack of marriage equality.
When the couple attended the funeral for Ogawa’s mother, relatives treated Oe with suspicion, particularly when she handled condolence money.
Ogawa said many relatives quizzed her on who Oe was.
In a landmark advance in 2015, Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya District started issuing symbolic “partnership” certificates to same-sex couples.
Some other local governments — including in the area where Oe and Ogawa live — have followed suit, and corporate Japan is also showing signs of moving toward recognizing same-sex couples.
The certificate confers some rights: When Oe was hospitalized last year and needed a family member’s signature, Ogawa could sign.
However, not all same-sex couples in Japan live in areas with such certificates, meaning that they can be prevented from visiting loved ones in hospitals or refused tenancy because their relationship is not legally recognized.
The Valentine’s Day lawsuits will seek damages, but the couples and their lawyers said that they are ultimately hoping to force a change in the law.
“What we really want is a court ruling that says the failure to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional,” Miwa said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS