CDP plans to revise Civil Code as to legalize same-sex marriage and to eliminate discrimination against sexual minority

Tetsuro Fukuyama, the Secretary‐General of CDP declared formally to support LGBT

On July 30th, Tetsuro Fukuyama of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan(CDP) told reporters that the party was planning to revise Civil Code to legalize same-sex marriage to eliminate discrimination against sexual minority. “The CDP has decided to work on this issue. We have already started discussion,” Mr. Fukuyama said.

While the discriminatory lawmaker, Mio Sugita of LDP faced nationwide backlash from the nation’s LGBT+ community after labeling them as “unproductive” in terms of childbirth, the CDP started making a bill and is planning to submit it to the next session of the Diet.

Mr. Fukuyama had already met with the members of Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation (J-ALL) at the Diet and had decided to work with the organization, criticizing LDP’s for ignoring the nationwide backlash against its member, Mio Sugita. “LDP must issue a statement regarding this matter,” Mr. Fukuyama said.

“Mio Sugita doesn’t even understand human rights. What she said in the article should never be tolerated,” Yukio Edano, the leader of CDP said.

The CDP states in its political platform that the party will achieve a society where individuals are not discriminated against based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and disabilities. In addition to that, it states that LGBT+ people’s rights need to be protected by eliminating discrimination in every situation.

In order to legalize same-sex marriage, some people might think we need to change the Article 24 of the Constitution, which states that “marriage shall be based on the mutual consent of both sexes,” but Science Council of Japan points out that “it does not prohibit the legalization of same-sex marriage” even though the wording ‘both sexes’ means a husband and a wife. The CDP also insists that “legalization of same-sex marriage will not be prohibited by the Constitution.”

The CDP is the only political party that mentions LGBT+ issues in its political platform in Japan.

About 40 members of the CDP attended this year’s Tokyo Rainbow Pride and Mr. Edano, the leader of CDP joined the march. (He was the only leader that joined the march in Tokyo Rainbow Pride). “We are taking actions to make a law that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We are also studying laws to establish same-sex partnership systems,” Mr. Edano gave a speech in Tokyo Rainbow Pride.

07/30/2019