The Sapporo District Court in Japan has ruled the ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Writes about this BBC News.
The publication notes that this is the last country of the G7 (G7), which considers homosexual relationships illegal. According to the Japanese constitution, only people of different genders can marry. However, the Sapporo court found that this was contrary to another article of the constitution on the equality of people.
This decision was made as a result of the case of a certain homosexual couple, who demanded compensation in the amount of a million yen (about 9 thousand dollars) for refusing to register a marriage. The Sapporo court refused to pay, but found that the ban was contrary to the Japanese constitution.
Despite the fact that the LGBT community in Japan considered such a step incredibly important, it will take a long time to fully legalize gay marriage. BBC News believes that the current Japanese authorities are still acting too sluggishly.
In early March, a court in China recognized homosexuality as a disease – a mental disorder. For several years, gay rights activists have reported that they have tried to challenge in court the language used in a university textbook on mental disabilities.
