TOKYO (AP) — A court found that Japan’s refusal to legalize same-sex marriage was constitutional on Friday in the last six cases that are expected to be brought before the Supreme Court for a final and definitive decision, possibly next year.
The Tokyo High Court said marriage under the law is largely expected to be a union between men and women in a ruling that overturned a lower court ruling last year and was the first high court defeat in six cases brought by those seeking equal marriage rights.
Judge Ayumi Higashi said that a legal definition of a family as a unit between a couple and their children is rational and that the exclusion of same-sex marriage is valid. The court also rejected damages of 1 million yen ($6,400) each sought by eight sexual minorities seeking equal marriage rights.
The plaintiffs and their lawyers said that the decision was unfair but they were determined to keep fighting through the Supreme Court.
“I’m so disappointed,” actor Hiromi Hatogai told reporters outside the court. “Instead of sadness, I am angry and shocked by the decision. Were the judges listening to us?”
“We just want to be able to get married and be happy, like everyone else,” said another actor, Rie Fukuda. “I believe that society is changing. We will not give up.”
With all six high court cases done, the Supreme Court is expected to handle all appeals and make a decision.
Although discrimination still exists in school, work and elsewhere, public support for the legalization of same-sex marriage and support in the business community have increased rapidly in recent years.
Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven industrialized countries that does not recognize same-sex marriage or provide any other form of legally binding protection for LGBTQ+ couples.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party is the main opponent of same-sex marriage rights in Japan. The government claimed that marriage under civil law does not cover same-sex couples and gives importance to natural reproduction.
More than 30 plaintiffs have joined marriage equality lawsuits filed across Japan since 2019. They argue that the provisions of the civil law that prohibit marriage between persons of the same sex violate the Constitutional right to equality and freedom of marriage.
Friday’s decision was only the second to find current government policy constitutional following the Osaka District Court’s 2022 decision.