Legal Nagoya District Court: denial of same-sex marriage unconstitutional

Similar lawsuits have been filed in five district courts across the country. This was the fourth ruling among them, but the second to rule that denying same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. The Sapporo District Court in March 2021 ruled that the denial is unconstitutional and the Tokyo District Court in November 2022 ruled that the lack of a legal system that recognizes same-sex couples as a family is in a "state of unconstitutionality." In June 2022, the Osaka District Court ruled it as constitutional. In all the lawsuits, the courts denied the compensation claims. The Fukuoka District Court is scheduled to make a ruling on the case on 8 June.

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Judge Osamu Nishimura said one of his reasons for the ruling was "an acceleration in the trend toward understanding and recognizing same-sex couples" in society. Nishimura also said in court documents that, as long as same-sex couples in Japan remain "excluded" from "a national system that recognizes relationships and the adequate protections that result from it," the country is violating its constitution.

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The Fukuoka District Court on Thursday ruled that banning same-sex marriage is in an "unconstitutional state," following a ruling last week by the Nagoya District Court with stronger phrasing calling it unconstitutional.

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If granted, recognition of same-sex marriage is paramount to entitlement of certain consequential rights that are typically enjoyed by married persons, but it creates new problems, particularly in succession and inheritance, because the marriage law is intrinsically woven with personal laws.

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Japan's civil law and family registration law provisions are based on marriage between a man and a woman and the privileges that result from matrimony, including inheritance rights, tax benefits and joint custody of children, are only granted to heterosexual couples. Japan remains the only Group of Seven industrialized country that has not legalized same-sex marriage or civil unions, despite lobbying from the LGBT community and its supporters. In total, six lawsuits contesting the lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage were filed at five district courts across the country, with one ruling it is constitutional, two unconstitutional, and three ruling that it is "in a state of unconstitutionality" -- a term seen as a call for the Diet to address the law's inconsistency with the Constitution.

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The latest ruling, in line with those of the Sapporo, Tokyo, Fukuoka and Nagoya high courts, overturned the Osaka District Court's judgment that the effective ban on same-sex marriage was constitutional. The Osaka High Court said that civil law provisions that do not allow same-sex marriage violate the right to equality under the Constitution. The current provisions "cannot be justified as unavoidable, as legal disadvantages for same-sex couples are significantly large," said Presiding Judge Kumiko Honda. The court also ruled that the marriage ban violates the section of the Constitution that says laws concerning matters pertaining to marriage and family "shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes." Calling marriage an "important right tied to the existence of an individual's identity," the judge said the ban on marriage of same-sex couples "severely undermines" that right.

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