

Japanese courts in Tokyo and Sapporo have ruled the same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional for infringing citizen’s rights, making a possible move for the legalization of same-sex unions, reports say.
AP News reported that the Sapporo High Court ruling refusing same-sex couples the same benefits of getting married and enjoying their relationship as that of straight couples “violates their fundamental right to equality and freedom of marriage.”
A lower court in Tokyo issued the same ruling, but with setbacks as it cannot overturn the current marriage law that restricts union strictly between a man and a woman.
According to BBC, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces pressure to create reforms regarding the issue amid the blatant opposition from traditional leadership.
Fushida’s government, however, has passed a law that criminalizes discrimination against a person’s sexuality, but it earned the ire of LGBT+ activists for the exclusion of recognizing marriage equality among the same sex.
BBC also reported that Japan remains the only nation in the G7—a group of the world's advanced economies, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—that does not “fully recognize same-sex couples or offer them clear legal protection.”