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		</div><p>A Japanese court has for the first time ruled that same-sex marriage should be allowed under the country’s constitution, a moral victory that does not have any immediate legal consequence but could bolster efforts for legalisation.</p>
<p>Sapporo District Court said sexuality, like race and gender, is not a matter of individual preference, so prohibiting same-sex couples from receiving benefits given to heterosexual couples cannot be justified.</p>
<p>“Legal benefits stemming from marriages should equally benefit both homosexuals and heterosexuals, the court said, according to a summary of the ruling.</p>
<p>Judge Tomoko Takebe said in the ruling that not allowing same-sex marriages violates Article 14 of the Japanese constitution, which prohibits discrimination “because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin”.</p>
<p>The court was hearing a case brought by three same-sex couples who were seeking government compensation for the difficulties they had to suffer from not being able to legally marry. The court declined to financially compensate the plaintiffs.</p>
<p>The court’s ruling has no immediate legal effect and same-sex couples are still not allowed to marry, but activists say the ruling is a major victory that could influence similar court cases and help their efforts to push for parliamentary debate and changes to the law.</p>
<p>Chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters the government disagreed with Wednesday’s ruling. He said the government wants to achieve a society more tolerant to diversity, but did not say how it would respond to the ruling, except that it will watch pending court cases.</p>
<p>Outside the court, the plaintiffs’ lawyers and their supporters held up rainbow flags and a banner saying “a big first step toward equality”.</p>
<p>“I hope this ruling serves as a first step for Japan to change,” said one woman who only identified herself as Plaintiff No 5.</p>
<p>“We need to make clear that the parliament has left alone the unconstitutional situation by abandoning its legislative duties, and have them take action promptly,” they said in a statement.</p>
<p>Japan is the only country in the G7 industrialised nations where same-sex marriages are not legal, but it is not an outlier in Asia, where Taiwan is the only place where same-sex marriage is legal following legislation passed in 2019.</p>
<p>While support for LGBTQ people is rising in Japan, discrimination persists. In a society where pressure for conformity is strong, many LGBTQ people hide their sexuality, fearing prejudice at home, school or work.</p>
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