Framing Same-sex Marriage in Japan

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This research note reports the first analysis of how same-sex marriage is framed by stakeholders in Japan, in a larger Japan-Hong Kong comparative project examining how same-sex partnership is advocated or resisted, what the implications are for the heteronormative institution of the marriage and the family, and how same-sex couples negotiate marriage and family norms in their everyday life. The analysis shows that whether arguing for or against same-sex marriage, the state as well as civil society reinforce homonationalistic discourses, albeit in a slightly different manner than observed in the West. Further, there is a tendency for advocates of same-sex marriage to construct marriage as the essence of human existence, leaving little room for a critical examination of a gendered and unequal institution, at least as it is practiced in today’s Japan. All this provides some preliminary support for the claim that the legalization of same-sex marriage might indeed reinforce rather than undermine heteronormativity.

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