A second high court rules that Japan's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional

TOKYO (AP) — A second Japanese high court ruled Wednesday that the government's policy against same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, the latest in a series of decisions upholding plaintiffs' demands for marriage equality.

The Tokyo High Court called the ongoing ban “a groundless legal discrimination based on sexual orientation,” saying it violates the constitutional guarantee of right to equality, as well as individuals' dignity and equality between sexes. It was a clearer statement than the 2022 lower court decision that described the situation as “an unconstitutional state.”

The Sapporo High Court ruling in March said not allowing same-sex couples to marry and enjoy the same benefits as straight couples violates their fundamental right to equality and freedom of marriage. Wednesday's ruling is the seventh overall that found the ongoing ban to be unconstitutional or nearly so, against only one district court decision that found it constitutional. The rulings can still be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Wednesday's ruling has not been finalized and that his government will continue to watch other pending court cases.

Still, the winning streak has raised hopes among the LGBTQ+ community.

Plaintiffs cheered outside of the court Wednesday, while their supporters held banners carrying messages such as “Further advance toward marriage equality!” and “No more waiting for legal revision!”

Their main obstacle, Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party's ruling coalition, lost a parliamentary majority in Sunday's election and is likely to have to compromise on more liberal policies pushed by the opposition parties such as marriage equality, which is largely supported by the general public.

Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven industrialized countries that does not recognize same-sex marriage or provide any other form of legally binding protection for LGBTQ+ couples.

Six lawsuits on marriage equality have been filed at five regions across Japan since 2019. LGBTQ+ activists and their supporters have stepped up their efforts, and in 2023, the government adopted a law that is not legally binding that states discrimination is unacceptable.

Hundreds of municipalities have issued partnership certificates as a workaround for same-sex couples to lower their hurdles in renting apartments and facing other forms of discrimination, but it does not provide the same legal benefit as heterosexual couples, Wednesday's ruling said.

The court, however, rejected a request by the seven plaintiffs that the government pay them 1 million yen (about $6,500) each in compensation for damages suffered under the current system that does not recognize them as legally married.

FILE - Representatives of Japanese LGBTQ people and rights groups pose for photographers during a news conference in Tokyo, Feb. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

LONDON (AP) — More than 8 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis last year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, the highest number recorded since the U.N. health agency began keeping track.

About 1.25 million people died of TB last year, the new report said, adding that TB likely returned to being the world’s top infectious disease killer after being replaced by COVID-19 during the pandemic. The deaths are almost double the number of people killed by HIV in 2023.

WHO said TB continues to mostly affect people in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Western Pacific; India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Pakistan account for more than half of the world's cases.

“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

TB deaths continue to fall globally, however, and the number of people being newly infected is beginning to stabilize. The agency noted that of the 400,000 people estimated to have drug-resistant TB last year, fewer than half were diagnosed and treated.

Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria that mostly affects the lungs. Roughly a quarter of the global population is estimated to have TB, but only about 5–10% of those develop symptoms.

Advocacy groups, including Doctors Without Borders, have long called for the U.S. company Cepheid, which produces TB tests used in poorer countries, to make them available for $5 per test to increase availability. Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders and 150 global health partners sent Cepheid an open letter calling on them to “prioritize people's lives” and to urgently help make TB testing more widespread globally.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This 1966 microscope photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli, the organism responsible for causing the disease tuberculosis. (Elizabeth S. Mingioli/CDC via AP)

FILE - A relative adjusts the oxygen mask of a tuberculosis patient at a TB hospital on World Tuberculosis Day in Hyderabad, India, March 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)