Little by little, the LGBT+ cause is advancing and progress is multiplying slowly but surely. It is also a new step that has been taken in this direction since yesterday, the city of Tokyo announced a major advance, to come in the coming months, for homosexual people. A news that remains to be nuanced.
The acceptance of homosexuality: a cause far from won
Long perceived as an abnormality or even, in the most extreme cases, as a disease, fortunately, homosexuality has been much better understood and accepted for many years now. The progress that must be made on the issue is obviously still very numerous (let us remember the censorship suffered by Doctor Strange 2), but the situation is improving. In France, for example, same-sex marriage has been legal since 2012. And if many consider that everything is far from perfect in France, progress is even less numerous elsewhere.
Take the case of Japan, where same-sex marriage is not authorized, homosexuality is still often badly perceived: it is the only G7 country in which same-sex unions are not recognized. And for good reason, its Constitution stipulates that “marriage can only take place with the mutual consent of both sexes“. However, the situation is about to change. The Government of the city of Tokyo has indeed announced, this Wednesday, May 11, 2022, that it would allow same-sex unions by November, thus amending the regulations currently in force.
Good news for all gay people residing in Tokyo… And only for them. This is where the shoe pinches: it is the city of Tokyo that is preparing to implement this major step forward for the LGBT+ cause, and not the Japanese government.
A major but imperfect step forward
“We’ve been collecting feedback from the public over the past two months and we heard the opinions [des couples de même sexe] who have said they want to be recognized as partners” : this is what a representative of the Metropolitan Government said on Wednesday 11 May. The LGBT+ community can therefore rejoice because the union of people of the same sex should come into force as of November 2022. A period probably quite distant for the most impatient, but it takes time for the legislation to be put in place.
As of June, the Government will ask the local assembly to support the revision of a decree, before starting to accept applications from couples wishing to do so from October. It is in this way that can then be produced “partnership certificates”, which would allow “to create more pleasant living conditions for [les couples homosexuels]”, who could then access certain rights which, for the time being, only married and therefore heterosexual couples have (access to certain accommodation, visits by the partner to the hospital, etc.).
However, this will only concern couples residing in Tokyo itself, including nationals. If progress therefore remains to be made, the Japanese capital of some 14 million inhabitants continues despite everything to confirm its status as a precursor city in Japan: Already in 2015, the famous district of Shibuya was the very first in the country to issue “symbolic certificates” of partnership between people of the same sex.
Tokyo is therefore the largest Japanese city to allow same-sex union, although more than 200 smaller municipalities have already taken the plunge in the country since 2015.
