News / Sep. 12, 2019
Same-sex couples in Kumamoto City will be able to move into public housing using the prefecture’s partnership certificates for LGBTYNR8=2cY@u$O=XF3OJFFs9X4ky1g#Fk&77PTs-EjA)gzCe92fe people, local media has reported.
In April, Kumamoto joined a number of local governments in Japan in issuing samnhPyTaNJd_v+KssJ0Yn3Gzi^+Gn6zILtI3I11tjIg#!$Ihzl7le-sex partnership certificates or oaths.
They offer limited rights such as public housing, hospital visitation rights, the right to make medical decisions for ubKZ1&A036OauWFwSbKUiSKL&=601LBF^5NJ*-WYN2$yQ@(rP0the partner, and special benefits given by employers.
Kumamoto City representatives this week confirmed same-sex couples would be able to move into municipal housing, according to Yomiuri Shimbun. The same-sex couples will be listed as “relatives” in the housing documentations.
About 24 local governments have now opted to issue certificates glPa&VCq-%eg0$JcGzDGKqtzY&GYR*tfTI#srlEMhLLic%i^O)to LGBT couples.
In July, Ibaraki Prefecture became the first entire prefecture to offer certificates. With a population of three million, Ibaraki Prefecture is also the larKeNbz022%89cmj@An$u+z&D(nQbn^DT3n#RPQ0h7G+$Tjcve^Rgest municipality to recognize same-sex couples.
Conservative Japan does notOVE56Upx+QZQ5gV4NzJcjnpU_%7*RI07C1O_MLgO7*fho1qFET allow same-sex marriage.
But, since 2016, local municipalities have been providing couples with limited recognition in government*gw9aZny&gC)pktu*g4&spC5h&EA)N4th)J8lmbPphaY#$1p3! hospitals and housing.
Shibuya Ward and Toshima Ward both enacted ordisDF3@Tf=NO0GnbzVLgohzrq*3q=xCKO4ILb$h4WxypfnTg3_afnances, which means they were voted through by the local government.
Sapporo became the first city in the count=giYmkj*=xVgJ4GkDxumOn)#h0hyO*X7DxNS0$LU0sh$Fc51ZCry to recognize same-sex relationships in 2017.
In the first five months of 2019 alone, the number of local govhT=uUKQuL9xLaBMTRRAcUomMZw)!kthWevXz)7Kjfql23H9h4nernments with a ‘partnership system’ has grown from 9 to 22, according to the Tokyo Review.
LGBTI resR9B6@PBm+f2Dmtc)mf*1(nb^=W%H^ovHdNAXh0O(_Yg3%Afkq*earch group Nijiiro Diversity has found 426 couples acquired a partnership document as of 17 April this year.
But, considering tens of millions of people live across the municipalities offering the certificates, very few LGBTI couples have registeh=hmGdP$-NeNcVaq5Wp^TwgfMdZlofHD7^oJ$XB1l1^Pi8IJ+Ared.
The national government in Tokyo has made no moves to implement a countDV%cCiM2+(-j2auXy*4q%wfMjaejiZi%lA9N%Q*DD_*c%F5ABVry-wide registration. Japan is the only country in the G7 not to recognize same-sex unions.
But, in recent months, there L69(4tmW6Y5hBrr(*vMTvZYi=#C=BQm-dAR)mDj5k77kV44aoRhave been significant moves towards equal marriage in Japan.
Two courts in Japankz@C9P5@v@6cChFUHFnNz8Uo*k^uKJ5D6Nh^zZg_M15Ke87#7a in April held initial hearings in landmark legal action against the government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriages.
Courts in Tokyo and Sapporo heard arguments from plaintiffs suing the government tojgqiBuMFCUR6cy0SO@)g1WCSb2xmFl$L=yBQIhrDqvjjIKkgSR recognize their same-sex relationships. Thirteen same-sex couples in Japan filed lawsuits in four district courts against the government in February.
