Tokyo, Dec 13 (EFE).- A third Japanese high court ruled Friday that the government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, as the executive branch continues not to take steps to modify regulations.
The Fukuoka High Court became the third high court to rule the ban unconstitutional, although it upheld the ruling of a lower court to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claim for damages.
However, for the first time, the court judged that not allowing same-sex marriage violated Article 13 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to the pursuit of happiness.
The lower court had stated last year that the ban on same-sex marriage is in a “state of unconstitutionality,” a term seen as a call to the Diet (parliament) to address the law’s inconsistency with the Constitution.
Friday’s ruling comes after a lawsuit filed by three same-sex couples living in the prefectures of Fukuoka and Kumamoto, who claimed that the denial of same-sex marriage violates the Constitution.
In October, the Tokyo High Court also ruled that the country’s lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
The ruling came after the Tokyo District Court determined in 2022 that the ban on same-sex marriage is in a “state of unconstitutionality.”
Earlier this year, the Sapporo High Court also said that the lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage in the country is unconstitutional, confirming the ruling of a lower court in 2021.
The legal battle over gay marriage is being waged based on two articles of Japan’s Magna Carta.
The plaintiffs base their claims on Article 14, which stipulates equality before the law and non-discrimination in political, economic or social relations on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status, or origin.
The government maintains that the Constitution does not recognize same-sex marriage, as Article 24 says marriage “shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes,” interpreting it to mean that it can only be between a man and a woman and therefore its position remains constitutional.
Between 2021 and 2024, nearly a dozen first-instance rulings have been issued on the matter, most of them pointing out that this lack of recognition of same-sex unions is unconstitutional and violates the rights enshrined in the Magna Carta.
Osaka district court is the only one to rule the current law constitutional.
None of the courts have granted financial compensation for damages to the plaintiffs.
Japan remains the only country in the Group of Seven (G7) that has not legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions, despite growing pressure from the LGBT+ community in the Asian country. EFE
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