Japan court rules that gov't ban on same-sex marriage is illegal


Activists participate in a march supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights at the "Tokyo Rainbow Pride" in Tokyo, Japan, on April 28, 2019. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

March 17 (UPI) -- In a historic ruling on Wednesday, a Japanese court decided that the government's ban against same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

The Sapporo District Court in its ruling sided with three same-sex couples in Hokkaido who argued their inability to marry legally amounts to a denial of freedoms and equality granted them by Japan's constitution.

The court ruling came at a time several similar cases challenging the ban are being considered in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka.

"Sexual orientation is not something that a person can choose and change at their own will," Judge Tomoko Takebe wrote in his ruling, according to Asahi Shimbun.

"It is discriminatory treatment that gay people are being denied even part of the legal benefits resulting from marriage, and it goes beyond legislative discretionary powers."

The three couples who are party to the suit, two male couples and one female couple, filed their original complaint in February 2019 after officials ruled they filed their marriage papers illegally.

The court's ruling on Wednesday, however, did not award the couples financial compensation.

The Japanese government has defended the same-sex marriage ban, saying it provides legal protection for husbands and wives who live together and produce children.