【英语生活】日本同性恋婚姻合法化将是漫长之路？

As the Thai government prepares to introduce - for the first time in Asia - a bill that would extend most of the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples, JRT took a look at how the situation for gays and lesbians in Japan compares.

The bottom line: Although there's little overt discrimination - legislated or popular - against 'sexual minorities,' as Japanese officialdom terms them, there's also little support for recognizing or legalizing unions between same-sex couples.

Same-sex marriages aren't legal in Japan, and few serious steps to legalize them have been taken yet. Japan doesn't recognize civil unions between same-sex couples either.

One big obstacle to same-sex marriage is Article 24 of the Japanese constitution, which stipulates that 'marriage shall be based on the mutual consent of both sexes.'

Since the Japanese constitution is notoriously tough and time-consuming to change, and indeed hasn't been revised since it took effect in 1947, that barrier likely means a long road ahead for legalizing same-sex marriage - even if there was popular support to do so, says Masakazu Umemura, a lawyer specializing in marriage- and inheritance-related cases.

Mr. Uemura noted that the Japanese public hasn't shown much interest in the issue, although a few lawyers are pushing for legalization, along with gay activists.

The conservative official stance on unions for same-sex couples isn't a surprise. Japanese family law, which governs everything from marriages to name changes, is highly rigid - for heterosexuals as well as homosexuals. Japanese family law doesn't permit married couples to have different surnames, for instance.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which is chock full of traditionalists from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on down, also has a dim view on gay marriage.

Rainbow Pride Ehime, an activist group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgendered people, conducted a multiple-choice survey of Japanese political parties' stances on same-sex marriage right before the general election in December 2012. The LDP chose the response 'Marriage should be between different sexes. Thus there is no need to adopt a legal marriage system' for gay couples.

Some smaller and less-traditional parties were more supportive. The Japan Restoration Party and the Social Democratic Party said they supported legalizing same-sex marriage, while the Communist Party was for an introduction of civil unions.

There are, however, a few signs that support is growing for gay marriage in recent years.

In 2009, Japan's Justice Ministry said that it would start issuing documents sometimes needed by Japanese nationals who wanted to marry same-sex partners abroad.

Informally, there's a fair amount of public acceptance of same-sex couples in Japan, though relatively few Japanese nationals choose to come out and agitate for change, compared to countries like the U.S.

After a few glitches, Tokyo Disneyland held its first lesbian wedding ceremony at the park, in March this year. Some hotels also welcome same-sex marriage ceremonies, according to gay support group sites, even though the events don't carry any legal significance.

At least one traditional Japanese temple also offers a marriage ceremony for gay couples. Shunkoin, a 420-year-old temple in Kyoto, started holding Buddhist wedding ceremonies for same-sex partners a couple of years ago, after some foreigners who visited the temple for zen meditation asked whether lesbian couples would be allowed to marry there. The temple's deputy monk, Zenryu Kawakami, told JRT that he did some research, and found that Buddhist 'sutra does not oppose it or approve it.' Mr. Kawakami has since wedded five lesbian couples-mostly foreigners. 'Buddhist followers are often quite liberal,' Mr. Kawakami said.

'Unlike the U.S. and other countries, there is no religion-based discrimination or hatred of sexual minorities in Japan. However, there is insufficient knowledge and awareness,' said Patrick Linehan, the openly gay U.S. Consul General for Osaka, in a February interview with the Ehime Shimbun excerpted on the consulate's Web site. Mr. Linehan, who married his spouse in 2007 in Canada, says the pair attend functions together as a couple - and are sometimes greeted with puzzlement, but not discrimination.

'When I first came to Japan 25 years ago, a Japanese person told me that there were no gay people in this country,' recalled Mr. Linehan in the interview. 'Japan has also changed a lot.'

在泰国政府准备开创亚洲先例，颁布一项允许同性恋伴侣获得多数婚姻权益的法案之际，“日本实时报”栏目反观了日本的同性恋情况。

尽管日本的同性恋（日本官方称其为“性少数人群”）至少没有受到法律或者民众的公然歧视，但对于让同性恋伴侣的结合得到承认或者合法化的支持也是寥寥。

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images今年3月，东小雪(Koyuki Higashi)和广子(Hiroki)在东京迪士尼乐园举办婚礼。图为2012年7月28日，东小雪（右）与广子在她们东京的家中吃蛋糕。在日本，同性不能合法结婚，并且尚未认真采取行动来使同性婚姻合法化。日本也不承认同性伴侣的民事结合。

日本宪法中的第24章对同性婚姻构成重大阻碍，这章宪法规定，婚姻必须建立在男女双方同意的基础上。

专门负责处理婚姻和遗产相关案件的律师Masakazu Umemura说，众所周知修改日本宪法难度大并且耗时长，确实日本宪法自1947年生效以来从未修改过，这可能意味着，即便是有民众的广泛支持，同性恋婚姻合法化仍将是一条漫长之路。

Umemura说，日本公众尚未对这一问题表现出太大兴趣，但一些律师与同性恋活动人士正在争取使同性婚姻合法化。

官方对同性恋伴侣的结合持保守立场并不令人意外。对异性恋和同性恋来说，日本家庭法（管理范围涵盖婚姻和改名等各个方面）非常严格。比如，日本家庭法不允许已婚夫妇使用不同的姓氏。

日本执政党自由民主党(Liberal Democratic Party)也不支持同性婚姻。该党成员以安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)为首多为传统人士。

一个针对同性恋、双性恋或者变性人的活动组织Rainbow Pride Ehime在2012年12月份大选前，对日本政党关于同性婚姻的立场进行了一次多选项调查。自民党选择了“婚姻应当是两性的结合，因此无需为同性伴侣提供一个合法婚姻体系”这个答案。

一些规模较小、不那么传统的政党表现出更为支持的态度。日本维新会(Japan Restoration Party)和社会民主党(Social Democratic Party)说，他们支持让同性婚姻合法化，日本共产党(Communist Party)则支持引入民事结合。

但近几年对同性婚姻的支持有增加的迹象。

2009年，日本法务省(Justice Ministry)说，将开始为那些想在海外与同性伴侣结婚的日本公民提供所需的文件。

从非正式意义上讲，日本有相当数量的公众接受同性伴侣，但与美国等国相比，选择站出来推动改变的日本公民相对较少。

在经历了一些小波折后，东京迪士尼乐园(Tokyo Disneyland)在今年3月份举办了首场女同性恋婚礼。据同性恋支持组织的网站显示，一些酒店也对同性婚礼持欢迎态度，尽管这些活动没有任何法律意义。

至少有一家日本传统寺院也提供为同性伴侣举办结婚仪式的服务。位于京都的光明寺(Shunkoin)已有420年的历史，该寺在几年前开始为同性伴侣举办佛教结婚仪式，在那之前曾有一些来这里禅定的外国人询问同性伴侣是否被允许在那里结婚。这家寺院的副住持Zenryu Kawakami对“日本实时报”栏目说，他进行了一些研究，然后发现佛教佛经确实没有对这一问题予以反对或者赞成。自那以来，Kawakami已经为五对女同性恋伴侣举行过结婚仪式，她们大多是外国人。Kawakami说，佛教信徒通常非常宽容。

已公开同性恋倾向的美国驻大阪总领事莱恩汉(Patrick Linehan)在2月份接受爱媛新闻(Ehime Shimbun)采访时说，与美国等国家不同，在日本性少数人群没有受到基于宗教的歧视和仇视，但存在了解和意识不足的情况。他的这些话被刊登在美国驻大阪领事馆网站上。莱恩汉2007年在加拿大与他的男友结婚，他说，他们以伴侣身份参加活动，有时还会引起迷惑，但没有受到歧视。

莱恩汉在采访中回忆说，当我25年前首次来到日本，一个日本人告诉我这个国家没有同性恋，日本也发生了巨大改变。