Japan awaits same-sex marriage ruling crucial to future LGBTQ rights

A Japanese court will decide on Wednesday whether bans on same-sex marriages are constitutional, a ruling that could set the future course of LGBT rights in the only G7 nation that does not allow such unions.
Japan’s constitution defines marriage as based on “the mutual consent of both sexes,” and the ruling party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has disclosed no plans yet to review the matter or propose legislation.
Of two cases on the issue decided in Japan, one ruled banning same-sex marriage was “unconstitutional” and the other held the opposite.
That adds weight to the expected decision by the Tokyo district court – already influential because of the capital’s outsized influence on the rest of Japan – as it will establish a trend, lawyers and activists say.