TOKYO (LifeSiteNews) — Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, the first female ever to lead the country’s government, opposes homosexual “marriage.”
Takaichi, who became prime minister on Tuesday, said during a campaign debate just last month that she is against homosexual “marriage” but that someone having a homosexual relationship is “fine,” according to LGBT-themed outlet Them.
In 2023, during a government budget committee meeting, she said the legalization of homosexual “marriage” is an “extremely difficult issue,” citing an article of Japan’s constitution which states that marriage requires “the mutual consent of both sexes.”
Takaichi’s views on homosexual so-called “marriage,” which is not currently legal in Japan, runs against the grain of general sentiment in the highly secular country. About 70 percent of Japanese people support homosexual “marriage,” according to a 2023 Pew survey — the highest rate of acceptance out of all the Asian countries surveyed.
A number of cities and localities in Japan issue “partnership certificates” for homosexual relationships. For example, Tokyo’s Shibuya District passed a law in 2015 that recognizes homosexuals “as partners equivalent to those married under the law.”
In addition, a Japanese high court last year ruled that the civil code’s ban on homosexual “marriage” violates the constitution’s prohibition of discrimination based on “race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.” However, Japanese high courts do not have the authority to invalidate the ban, making the ruling a symbolic one.
Ironically, despite the fact that she as a woman holds the highest political office in the country, Takaichi’s administration has been described by leftists as bad news for “gender equality,” as well as “sexual minority rights.” PBS News notably described her as “not a feminist.”
This is because she supports the male-only succession of the imperial family, which has only a ceremonial role in the country, and she opposes allowing separate surnames for married couples, arguing that it could “destroy the social structure based on family units.” However, Takaichi does not insist that the woman take her husband’s surname. Interestingly, Takaichi’s husband took her own surname when they remarried.
“The birth of Japan’s first female prime minister is epoch-making, but (Takaichi) casts a dark cloud over gender equality and sexual minority rights,” Soshi Matsuoka, an LGBT activist, told PBS. “Prime Minister Takaichi’s views on gender and sexuality are extremely conservative and could be a serious setback for the rights especially for sexual minorities.”
Japan remains one of a handful of countries in the developed world, along with countries such as Italy, South Korea, and the Czech Republic, that have not legalized so-called homosexual “marriage.”
