A ban on same-sex marriages in Japan has been deemed unconstitutional by a court (Yohei Fukai/Kyodo News/AP)A Japanese court has for the first time ruled that same-sex marriage should be allowed under the country’s constitution, a moral victory that does not have any immediate legal consequence but could bolster efforts for legalisation. Sapporo District Court said sexuality, like race and gender, is not a matter of individual preference, so prohibiting same-sex couples from receiving benefits given to heterosexual couples cannot be justified. “Legal benefits stemming from marriages should equally benefit both homosexuals and heterosexuals, the court said, according to a summary of the ruling. Judge Tomoko Takebe said in the ruling that not allowing same-sex marriages violates Article 14 of the Japanese constitution, which prohibits discrimination “because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin”. Japan is the only country in the G7 industrialised nations where same-sex marriages are not legal, but it is not an outlier in Asia, where Taiwan is the only place where same-sex marriage is legal following legislation passed in 2019.

Source: Irish Independent March 17, 2021 06:20 UTC