Japan: Osaka court holds same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

The Osaka High Court held that Japan’s lack of recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional on Tuesday. The Osaka High Court is the fifth court to rule that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional after similar rulings in the high courts of Sapporo, Tokyo, Fukuoka and Nagoya.

While Presiding Judge Kumiko Honda upheld the Osaka District Court’s decision not to award damages, Honda ruled that Japan’s Civil Code and Family Register Act that do not allow same-sex marriage violates the right to equality as set out in Article 14 of the Constitution of Japan, which states: “All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.” The court also ruled that the marriage ban breaches Article 24, where laws involving marriage and family “shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.”

In 2019, three same-sex couples filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government, requesting 1 million yen (about $7,400) in damages per person from the state. They were among 14 couples who filed lawsuits in Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Osaka. The plaintiffs had appealed to the High Court after the Osaka District Court in June of 2022 ruled that the lack of same-sex marriage recognition was constitutional under the 1947 constitution as marriage was for heterosexual unions only, making the same-sex marriage ban lawful.

Japan is the only International Group of Seven (G7) country that does not recognise same-sex marriage. Human Rights Watch put out a dispatch highlighting how the other G7 countries are encouraging Japan to enact laws to allow same-sex marriage, counter discrimination and uphold protections for sexual and gender minorities. Prior to the May summit in 2023, LGBTQ groups called for Japan’s government to legalise same-sex marriage and while support for the LGBTQ community grows and the Japanese Diet, Japan’s national legislature, passed the Act on Promotion of Public Understanding of Diversity of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, promoting understanding of the LGBTQ.

Amnesty International indicated in a report that protections for sexual and gender minorities are still absent. Currently, in Japan, same-sex couples have some recognition from local governments, such as “partnership certificates,” offering some rights, but these do not give rights such as inheritance, spousal visits or parental recognition.

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US federal judge stops enforcement of Iowa school book ban again

A US federal judge on Tuesday once again blocked enforcement of an Iowa law that required the removal of books describing sexual acts from public school libraries.

US District Judge Stephen Locher issued the preliminary injunction after reconsidering the law, known as Senate File 496, under instructions from a federal appeals court that had vacated his earlier injunction. The judge reaffirmed his conclusion that Iowa’s law banning books is “facially unconstitutional,” preventing officials from enforcing it while litigation continues.

The disputed measure, signed by Governor Kim Reynolds in 2023, directed public school libraries to remove any books containing “descriptions” of sex acts. That standard, Judge Locher wrote, went beyond the US Supreme Court’s well-established precedent on obscenity for minors. Judge Locher acknowledged that not all books with sexual content are appropriate for every age group and that prior federal court decisions could justify restricting explicit material for younger students. However, he emphasized that Iowa schools were already doing that. The evidence, he noted, shows that school officials had long been limiting younger students’ access to age-inappropriate books well before Senate File 496 came into play.

He emphasized that Iowa’s new legislation:

​makes no attempt to evaluate a book’s literary, political, artistic, or scientific value before requiring the book’s removal from a school library and thus comes nowhere close to applying the ‘obscenity’ standard that is typically used to determine the constitutionality of statewide book restrictions. The result is the forced removal of books from school libraries that are not pornographic or obscene.

Judge Locher pointed to dozens of well-known titles already pulled from shelves, including “1984” by George Orwell, “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. Most, he found, “are not pornographic or obscene,” making the mandated removals unconstitutional. “The result,” Locher wrote in his ruling, “is the forced removal of books from school libraries that are not pornographic or obscene.”

In returning the case to Judge Locher last summer after blocking the same law in December 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit instructed the judge to apply the balancing test from Moody v. NetChoice, a recent Supreme Court ruling on speech regulation. That test requires courts to compare a law’s “constitutional” applications against those that are not. Applying that framework, Judge Locher concluded in his Tuesday ruling that the number of improperly removed books far outweighs any constitutionally valid removals the law might achieve. Students, authors, and book publishers, he wrote, had shown a “substantial” threat to their First Amendment rights, thereby justifying the continuation of a preliminary injunction.

Penguin Random House’s prominent authors, including John Green and Jodi Picoult, and advocacy groups brought the challenge. They argued that their works were being stigmatized and that removing them from school libraries blocked students from valuable sources of information, learning, and diverse perspectives.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, whose office is defending the law, criticized the injunction and indicated the state may appeal. “As a mom, I know how important it is to keep schools a safe place for kids to learn and grow,” Bird said in a statement. “Parents shouldn’t have to worry about what materials their kids have access to when they’re not around. This common sense law makes certain that the books kids have access to in school classrooms and libraries are age-appropriate.”

The ruling comes amid a broader national conversation over book bans, student access to information, and what constitutes “obscene” material in schools. For now, his order keeps books that had been targeted for removal back on the shelves, pending litigation on the merits of the First Amendment claims.

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ECtHR: Firing teacher for running LGBT+ blog violates freedom of speech. Poland loses again through discrimination! (P. v. Poland, 13.2.2025)

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that the dismissal of a teacher for running an LGBT+ blog violated his right to freedom of expression. In its February 13, 2025 judgment in the case of P. v. Poland, the Court found that Poland had violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Judgment: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-241742

More: https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1j2llij/echr_firing_teacher_for_running_lgbt_blog/

P v Poland (56310/15) judgment | 13.02.2025 (dismissal of teacher for sexually explicit internet blog)

Violation (Art. 10)

US withdraws from UN LGBTI Core Group

State Department: Decision ‘in line with the president’s recent executive orders’

The U.S. has withdrawn from a group of U.N. member states that have pledged to support LGBTQ and intersex rights.

The U.N. LGBTI Core Group formed in 2008.

Chile and the Netherlands are the current co-chairs. Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Peru, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Timor Leste, the U.K., and Uruguay are members.

The EU, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and Outright International are observers.

“The overarching goal of the UN LGBTI Core Group in New York is to work within the United Nations framework on ensuring universal respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, specifically lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons, with a particular focus on protection from violence and discrimination,” states the Core Group’s website.

The Core Group also has three specific objectives:

• Raising awareness about LGBTI issues

• Contributing to multilateral work and negotiations at the United Nations

• Seeking common ground and engaging in a spirit of open, respectful and constructive dialogue and cooperation with UN member states and other stakeholders outside the Core Group.

The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights were a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy.

Former first lady Jill Biden last September spoke at a Core Group event that took place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Former President Joe Biden was vice president in 2016 when he spoke at a Core Group event that coincided with that year’s U.N. General Assembly.

President Donald Trump since he took office on Jan. 20 has signed a number of executive orders that have targeted the LGBTQ and intersex community. These include the “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” directive that, among other things, bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers.

A directive that Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued bans embassies and other U.S. diplomatic institutions from flying the Pride flag. (Joe Biden in March 2024 signed a government spending bill with a provision that banned Pride flags from flying over U.S. embassies.)

The Associated Press last week reported the Trump-Vance administration has terminated 90 percent of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s foreign aid contracts. Activists with whom the Washington Blade has spoken in previous weeks say the White House’s decision to freeze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending has been “catastrophic” for the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement.

A source told the Blade the U.S. withdrew from the Core Group on Feb. 14. A State Department spokesperson on Saturday confirmed the withdrawal, but did not specify the specific date.

“In line with the president’s recent executive orders, we have withdrawn from the U.N. LGBTI Core Group,” said the spokesperson.

More: https://www.washingtonblade.com/2025/03/03/us-withdraws-from-un-lgbti-core-group/

US judge blocks Trump’s ban on trans people serving in the military

More: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/18/judge-blocks-trump-executive-order-trans-military-ban

USA: DHS Scraps Ban on Surveillance Based on Sexual Orientation

A Department of Homeland Security unit eliminated policies prohibiting personnel from conducting intelligence activities based solely on a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

More: https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/trumps-dhs-loosens-sexual-orientation-based-surveillance-policy

USA: Tennessee drag ban will stay as SCOTUS refuses to hear case, but artists ‘refuse to be silenced’

More: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/02/indonesia-flogging-of-gay-men-a-horrifying-act-of-discrimination/

Indonesia: Flogging of gay men a horrifying act of discrimination

More: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/02/indonesia-flogging-of-gay-men-a-horrifying-act-of-discrimination/