To stimulate discussion over the topic, the largest opposition party in Japan presented a bill to parliament on Monday that would legally recognize marriages between people of the same gender.
In the measure proposed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, an amendment to the phrase incorporated into the country’s Civil Code on the presumption that marriage is a union between spouses of different sexes is being suggested.
Japan is only country in Group of Seven that does not officially recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. The government and the party in power continue to exercise caution regarding this contentious issue.
After Prime Minister Fumio Kishida fired one of his executive secretaries in February for saying he can “not want to live next door” to an LGBTQ marriage and would “not even want to look at” LGBTQ persons, there has been a greater focus on issues pertaining to sexual minorities in the public eye.
However, Kishida continues to maintain a cautious stance regarding the issue of legalizing marriages between people of the same gender. On March 1, Kishida stated during a parliamentary session that doing so “could change society as it concerns lives of the people,” calling for additional discussion on the topic.
Several members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have expressed their opposition to marriages between people of the same gender, citing their preference for upholding traditional family values.
Once the bill was presented to the legislative body, CDP Executive Vice President Chinami Nishimura made the following statement to the press: “It is discriminatory that same-sex marriage is not allowed.”
The party that would later become the CDP made a joint proposal in June 2019 along with the Japanese Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party to legalize marriages between people of the same sexual orientation; however, the Diet session that was in session at the time ended before the bill could be debated.
