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Japan May Take Step Toward Recognizing Gay Marriagesby Kilian MelloyFriday Mar 27, 2009 In a new measure intended to help same sex couples of mixed nationality surmount the legal difficulties of keeping their families together, the Japanese government is pondering allowing marriage equality under certain circumstances.
The Japanese news and culture site The Black Ship reported in a March 27 article that the country’s Justice Ministry is considering marriage for same-sex families that include one member from a nation that extends marriage equality as a matter of law.
The article noted that a number of nations have extended marriage equality to their gay and lesbian families, including Canada, Spain, and South Africa.
In America, two states currently recognize marriage equality, Massachusetts and Connecticut. A third state, California, offered marriage equality for six months in 2008, until a ballot initiative amending the state constitution was narrowly approved by voters after a fierce and expensive campaign. The amendment revoked the existing right of gays and lesbians to marry. The state’s Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this month that the measure went too far and revised the constitution rather than simply amending it; meantime, the marital status of 18,000 California families remains up in the air.
Earlier this week, state lawmakers in Vermont overwhelmingly approved a measure to extend marriage equality. That made Vermont the second state to see its legislative body pass such a law; in California, similar legislation was twice passed by state lawmakers, and was twice vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. A decision by the state’s Supreme Court later struck down anti-gay laws barring marriage for gays and lesbians.
A similar veto is expected from Vermont governor Jim Douglas, a Republican.
In Japan, the new provision for families of mixed nationality would not translate to marriage equality for gay and lesbian families comprising only Japanese citizens; though no law forbids marriage equality, there are no legal provisions to recognize same-sex families.
Under Japanese law, even heterosexual citizens wishing to marry a foreigner need to obtain special marriage certificates from the Justice Ministry, the article said.
The head of a Japanese GLBT equality group called Peer Friends, Taiga Ishikawa, was quoted in the article as saying, "...I want to hail the Justice Ministry’s decision as a step forward."
Ishikawa added that, "without marriage [Japanese citizens] were unable to obtain visas for their partners [in order for the family] to live together."
While no laws exist in Japan specifically targeting gays and lesbians for privation of rights or criminalizing consensual intimacy between persons of the same sex, culturally the country is relatively quite on GLBT issues.
According to a March 8 article at The Japanese Times, most GLBTs in the country keep the facts of their private lives to themselves, though some indications now exist that social attitudes may be opening up to acknowledgment of gays and lesbians.
The article referenced the television appearance of a lesbian couple who had come out to their neighbors but who had their faces obscured for their on-camera interview. The article noted, "They were not scared for themselves; they just didn’t want to take the chance of making friends and family uncomfortable."
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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