Japan Considers Same Sex Marriage

From The Black Ship:

The Justice Ministry plans to enable Japanese nationals to marry same-sex partners who have citizenship in countries where gay marriage is legally approved, ministry sources said Thursday.

The ministry will issue certificates necessary for such marriage of Japanese citizens and foreigners, the sources said, adding the ministry will soon convey the decision to its legal affairs bureaus across the nation, the sources said.

The ministry has so far rejected the issuance of such certificates to Japanese citizens seeking to marry same-sex partners of foreign nationality as such marriages are not approved under domestic law.

For Japanese nationals, whether they are gay or not, to marry foreigners in foreign countries, they must obtain certificates from the ministry by submitting documents including their name, birth data, sex and nationality, and similar information about their marriage partner.

Under the latest decision, the ministry will issue a new type of certificate which will only clarify that the person has reached the legal age for marriage and that he or she is single.

”We were not able to get (the ministry) to forgo the clarification of sexuality. But I want to hail the Justice Ministry’s decision as a step forward (for gays),” said Taiga Ishikawa, who represents gay support group Peer Friends.

Ishikawa said that Japanese gays were not able to get married to a gay foreigner even if their marriage partner’s country approved of same-sex marriage, because the Justice Ministry would not issue the certificate.

”And without marriage they were unable to obtain visas for their partners to live together,” Ishikawa said.

Same-sex marriage is approved in many countries including Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, South Africa and some U.S. states.

GLBT Youths Explore Exchange Program

Seven members from Bristol, England’s GLBT group Freedom Youth are going to visit Japan and take part in an inaugural educational exchange program, reports the Kyodo News International.

The seven students will arrive in Tokyo August 18th. While in Japan, they will also take a cultural trip to Kyoto.

While in Tokyo, the participants, aged from 16 to 21, will have the opportunity to co-facilitate educational workshops on GLBT issues which affect today’s youth. A larger public event on August 24th at Tokyo’s International Youth Center is set to involve a couple of hundred people.

Organized GLBT events aimed at youth are extremely rare in Japan where gay youth support networks are basically non-existent.

Rose Richards, the Bristol City Council Head or of Youth and Play Services told Kyodo News, “LGBT young people are amongst some of the most disadvantaged young people in the country. They are a group who are often denied access to mainstream opportunities. Involvement in the planning and delivery of an international exchange provides a unique platform where they can develop personally and socially. The impact of this exchange has been phenomenal already. Just by giving young people the opportunity to come together and overcome their isolation by developing their social networks, they secure mutual support, self-confidence and self-esteem.”

The trip has been set to be the main subject of an upcoming Japanese documentary by the Japan Broadcasting Co.

A group of GLBT Japanese youth are planing a reciprocal trip to Bristol, England in 2009.

Japan to Host England for LGBT Youth Project

LGBT Youth Exchange is a joint project by the Center for Gender Studies at International Christian University in Tokyo and Youth and Play Services of the city council of Bristol to bring LGBT youth from England and Japan together.

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