A court ruling in Japan on Wednesday was the seventh time a court found the country’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional.
The Tokyo High Court called the ban on same-sex marriage “a groundless legal discrimination based on sexual orientation.” A high court in Sapporo ruled in March that the ban violates the fundamental right to equality.
The rulings can still be appealed to Japan’s Supreme Court.
Only three Asian countries have marriage equality — Taiwan, Thailand and Nepal. And Japan is the last of the G7 countries, which also include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K and U.S., to not offer same-sex marriage.
Hundreds of cities throughout Japan issue partnership certificates, but those documents don’t offer the same legal benefits as marriage.
— David Taffet