Pride Month Spotlight

As part of our celebration of Pride Month, Edward Mears, the Iris Regional Network Co-Lead for APAC, sat down with Alexander Dmitrenko, Co-Chair of Lawyers for LGBT and Allies Network (LLAN) to discuss Alexander's and LLAN's advocacy of LGBT+ rights in Japan and to reflect on the meaning of Pride. LLAN is a Tokyo-based organization consisting of lawyers and other legal professionals who provide legal assistance to LGBT+ and other sexual minorities in Japan and promote understanding of the same within Japanese society. The organization's prevailing goal is to to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Japan.

DLA Piper has collaborated with LLAN on a number of pro bono projects including one of the first multi-jurisdictional Iris Represents pro bono projects to produce a survey on the status of marriage equality globally. That project involved nearly 100 DLA Piper lawyers and trainees from many of our offices across the globe.

In this video, you will hear their discussion on how LLAN was formed, the challenges involved in achieving greater recognition of the rights of the LGBT+ community in Japan as well as Alexander's recent efforts to support Ukrainian evacuees who have made their way to Japan.

Japan today is the only G7 nation that does not legally recognize same-sex unions and though progress is being made, the path to equality is a challenging one. On 20 June 2022, the Osaka District Court dismissed the claims of three same-sex couples from Aichi, Kyoto and Kagawa prefectures brought against the Japanese government, ruling that it is not a violation of the Japanese Constitution to disallow marriage between members of the same sex. This result is distinguished from the Sapporo District Court decision from March of 2021, which did rule that the Japanese government's failure to recognize same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and violated the right to equality promised by Article 14 of Japan's constitution.

In its decision, the Osaka District Court reasoned that "although there are differences between heterosexual and homosexual couples, these differences have been resolved to some extent through the implementation of other systems, and it is necessary to decide through democratic processes whether to expand the institution of marriage or to implement another system [for homosexual couples]". Nevertheless, commentary on the opinion has noted that the Osaka District Court decision seems to suggest that Article 24 of Japan's constitution (which provides that "marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes") does not restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

While Monday's decision appears to be a step back, there is still hope as several other cases are pending and it seems likely that the issue could make its way to Japan's Supreme Court.

As Alexander said, "You can feel that we have achieved so much. I hope everyone can keep that fire burning".

In conversation with

Edward Mears – a Tokyo-based Senior Associate with DLA Piper's Corporate practice and the Iris Regional Network Co-Lead for APAC.
Alexander Dmitrenko – Co-Chair of LLAN. Alexander is a long time LGBT+ advocate, having begun his legal career over 20 years ago working on ground-breaking same-sex marriage and LGBT rights cases in Canada. He is currently a partner in Ashurst's Tokyo office.

What is Iris?

Iris is DLA Piper's LGBT+ people network and takes its name from Greek mythology. Iris is the personification and goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the Gods.

Why Iris Represents?

Through this tailored service offering, Iris will be Representing its LGBT+ pro bono clients, and as a firm we are committed to standing up and Representing for this community.