Japan’s opposition presents a bill to legalize gay marriage

March 6 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Japanese opposition has presented a bill before Parliament on Monday to legalize homosexual marriage in which it is the only G7 country where no rights are recognized for this type of couples.

The measure, introduced by the Democratic Constitutional Party of Japan, seeks to reform the Civil Code, which establishes that marriage is the union between people of different sex, according to information from the Kiodo news agency.

Criticism against the government regarding the situation of sexual minorities and the LGTBI community in Japan has increased recently, which is why the Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has come under increasing pressure from these groups, especially after of a former Cabinet adviser making comments against marriage equality.

Kishida had to publicly apologize in mid-February for the “extremely inappropriate” words of the retired adviser, Masayoshi Arai, who stated that he “would not want to live next door” to an LGTBI couple and that he would even “hate to see them.”

However, he has been cautious about the idea of ​​legalizing homosexual marriage and has declared before Parliament that taking this forward “could change society since it concerns people’s private lives”, for which he has advocated debating the question in more depth.

The opposition has lamented the government’s position and has pointed out that “the fact that equal marriage is not guaranteed is discriminatory.” In June 2019, several leftist formations presented a similar project, although it was not debated.