The document allows homosexual couples to be processed as married people for certain public services, in the only country of the G7 to not recognize the same sex unions.
Le Monde with AFP
Japan takes a new step towards the recognition of homosexual couples. The Town Hall of Tokyo handed over, Tuesday 1
A measure expected for a long time in the archipelago, the only country in the G7 not to recognize the same -sex unions, its constitution having that “marriage can only take place with the mutual consent of both sexes”.
The certificates of the city of Tokyo allow LGBTQ+ partners to be treated as married couples for certain public services linked to housing, health or social protection. The Shibuya district town hall, a trendy district of Tokyo, was the first in Japan to offer such a certificate in 2015. More than two hundred municipalities or local authorities have since followed.
These certificates are far from conferring the same rights as a legal marriage, but the new status proposed by the town hall of Tokyo nevertheless represents progress for Miki and Katie, two women who for a long time have no certificate official of their common life.