Japan courtroom finds same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional
A district courtroom in Japan has in a landmark decision ruled that the country's failure to recognise same-sex relationship is "unconstitutional".
Japan's constitution defines relationship as one between "both sexes".
But a Sapporo courtroom ruled that denied the couples constitutionally-guaranteed equality, in what's seen as a symbolic triumph for LGBTQ activists.
Japan may be the only country in the G7 band of developed nations that will not allow same-sex marriage.
The case was one of the taken to district courts in a variety of elements of Japan by several same-sex couples who would like damages for mental suffering.
The Sapporo court rejected the compensation claim of one million yen ($9,000; £6,480) per person to be denied the same privileges as heterosexual couples.
But it discovered that not permitting them to marry was unconstitutional.
Ai Nakajima, who's among the band of plaintiffs, told the BBC: "That is one huge step forward in Japan... We happen to be moving nearer to making our goal come true."
Japan's constitution, set up after the end of Universe War Two, defines matrimony as one of "mutual consent between both sexes".
The federal government has said this means same-sex marriage had not been "foreseen" at that time.
But attorneys for the plaintiffs said the phrasing was actually designed to prevent forced marriages, and that there surely is nothing found in the constitution that explicitly prohibits gay marriage.
The court in Sapporo, the capital city of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, is the first to provide its verdict, and its own ruling sometimes appears as having significant effect on the other courts.
Journalist and LGBTQ legal rights expert Yuji Kitamaru told the BBC the judgment was first "well-crafted and incredibly strategic" and laid "the first legal base against anti-LGBTQ theories".
