Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

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takenoko
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Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by takenoko »

Simple Japan news to practice your Japanese:
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k100102 ... 41000.html

Apparently, Shibuya has started offering marriage equivalent documents to homosexuals (wish it were just marriage, but what can you do).

On November 5th, two women came and got that certificate. The certificate acknowledges that they're family, allowing them to share insurance and pool their money to buy a home together.

These documents are available to people living in Shibuya and who are age 20 and over.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Catastrophe »

Interesting that the age is 20 when the age of marriage is 18 (I believe).
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by takenoko »

http://bccvisalaw.com/marriage/marriage_in_japan.php

Whoa, you're right. Also, it's 16 for the females. That's... weird.

How arbitrary laws are.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Lunagel »

It's 20 normally , 18 for males and 16 for females with parental consent

"A person who is under 20 years of age cannot get married in Japan without a parent's approval."

Right on that site you linked XP
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by takenoko »

I miss the asterisk lines.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Catastrophe »

So then theoretically you should be able to use this equivalent at those ages with parental consent if it going to marriage equivalence.

Also, if they are only being offered in Shibuya is it still recognized everywhere else in the country?
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Lunagel »

They're only being offered in Shibuya, but there have been weddings without formal government recognition before. I know Disneyland did a lesbian wedding even though they couldn't make it official.

Idk if other cities would recognize the union. Probably depend on the city
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by ja450n »

interesting news, i just saw the other day about Shunkoin temple offering to marry same gender couples.

I wonder how much of this is just a matter of Japan getting over the western/christian influence that is apparently what made it "wrong"/illegal in the first place.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Lunagel »

ja450n wrote:interesting news, i just saw the other day about Shunkoin temple offering to marry same gender couples.

I wonder how much of this is just a matter of Japan getting over the western/christian influence that is apparently what made it "wrong"/illegal in the first place.
Now, you're partially right about the Western influence, it's a big reason why stuff changed so fast in the Meiji era and why it went very suddenly from a polygamy/"concubines are okay" society to a monogamous society. (The Meiji emperor had 1 wife and 5 concubines but all succeeding generations have been monogamous.) However, homosexuality has never been quite the big no-no it was in Western society, and historically speaking, it was accepted, though not really openly acknowledged. There are no anti-gay marriage laws in Japan, it's just that the wording of current laws is between one man and woman, so it is restricted in that sense.

To be honest, I think most of it is societal pressure to be "normal" more than the government/religion restricting marriage. You get the same thing all over the world with gay people marrying opposite gender in order to fit in.

The wikipedia article is a pretty good read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Japan
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by takenoko »

Isn't the concept of oppressing homosexuality relatively new in general?
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

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Depends what you mean by relative.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by ja450n »

from what i've read, it is pretty recent. it wasn't illegal until 1872 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_Japan) and was reportedly every common among samurai.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Lunagel »

That's only sodomy, and you'll notice it says it was repealed only 7 years later. I think a couple southern states still have anti-sodomy laws.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Lunagel »

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_new ... 1511050060

So the first certificates have been issued. It's nice to see a (minor) celeb speaking out, there aren't a lot of really strong voices for LGBT+ people in Japan.

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_new ... 1510140001

An interesting view of the situation.
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Re: Shibuya starts offering marriage equivalent status for homosexuals

Post by Catastrophe »

Some of that stuff in that second article is pretty heavy. It makes me think that discrimination could be a problem until the majority of the older generation dies out.
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