Iga City in Mie Prefecture will start issuing same-sex partnership certificates in next April.

20151226IgaSoichi Yamaguchi who is the chief of LGBT group “ELLY” was handed LGBT’s opinion to chairman of Iga City Council.

On December 25th, Iga City in Mie Prefecture announced that the city is going to start issuing same-sex partnership certificates to same-sex couples who submitted required applications to its ward office from next April. Iga City has worked on eliminating discrimination against sexual minorities and held seminars and workshops with LGBT people.

After Shibuya ward in Tokyo started issuing same-sex partnership certificates in November, 2015, Takarazuka City in Hyogo Prefecture also announced that the city is going to issue similar official documents for same-sex couples. Moreover, Naha City in Okinawa and Chiba City in Chiba announced discussions regarding same-sex partnerships are going to take place. This new movement has spread across more municipalities in Japan.

The mayor of Iga City, Sakae Okamoto told the reporters from Kyodo News that the city is going to complete the guidelines for same-sex partnership certificates by March, 2016.

2015/12/26