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Gay Couples in Japan to File Suit on Valentine’s Day for the Right to Marry

The country could become the first Asian nation to legalize marriage equality.

Same-sex couples in Japan will fight for their right to marry on Valentine's Day.

A total of 13 queer couples will file suits on February 14 in four different cities, including Tokyo, Reuters reports.

"The constitution gives you the right to pursue happiness and equality before the law," said Yoshie Yokoyama, a lawyer who is representing one of the couples. "Not recognizing same sex marriage violates this."

TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images

Participants in fancy dress march during the Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2015 parade in Tokyo on April 26, 2015. About 3,000 people took part in the annual gay parade, amid growing calls for more legal protection for the sexual minority. AFP PHOTO / Toru YAMANAKA (Photo credit should read TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)

One of the plaintiffs, Ai Nakajima, who married her partner Kristina Baumann in Germany last year but was unable to register it in Yokohama city, said many Japanese same-sex couples choose to live abroad in search of rights.

If the couples are successful, Japan would become the first Asian country to legalize marriage equality. The country's laws are more progressive than other nations in the region, with same-sex couples in some areas allowed to obtain a certificate granting rights similar to those given to married couples, such as renting joint housing and hospital visitation.

Last year, the health ministry ordered hotels to stop discriminating against gay couples, and Tokyo passed a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

However, they are denied parental rights to their partners’ children and to inherit their partners’ assets when they die, Yokoyama noted. And despite Tokyo staging large Pride celebrations, stigma remains against the LGBTQ community. Last month, the Supreme Court upheld a law forcing transgender people to be sterilized before they can change the gender marker on their official documents.

In an attempt to change minds on the issue, a lesbian couple is planning on staging wedding photo shoots in 25 countries where same-sex marriage is legal.

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