Lesbian couple becomes Japan’s first legal same-sex marriage

GayRVA Staff
November 5, 2015

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Read More: Japan, Lesbians, Same-Sex Marriage

Japanese culture has been slow to embrace LGBTQ issues, but parts of the island nation recently legalized same-sex marriage. And now a lesbian couple from Shibuya Ward have tied the knot becoming the first same-sex couple to get a legal marriage in Japan.

“I’m so happy,”  Koyuki Higashi told CNN outside the doors of the city office building where she and Hiroko Masuharda were just legally wed. The couple met four years ago “When they gave us the certificate, I cried. Our friends cried.”

Japan, like the US, lacks federal protections for LGBTQ couples – they can be fired or denied housing for their union just like us in VA. But things are even a little worse there; same-sex marriage is only legal in two of Japan’s 23 wards, making it even harder for same sex couples if they try and leave the ward.

Check out more from Yahoo News below:

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