Rights groups had pushed for passage of an equality act ahead of last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, when international attention was focused on Japan, but the bill was quashed by the conservative governing party. LGBTQ people often face discrimination at school, work, and at home, causing many to hide their sexual identities. Support for sexual diversity has grown slowly in Japan, but legal protections are still lacking for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. They argued that they have been illegally discriminated against by being deprived of the same economic and legal benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy through marriage.
The plaintiffs - two male couples and one female couple - were among 14 same-sex couples who filed lawsuits against the government in five major cities - Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Osaka - in 2019 for violating rights to free union and equality.
