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Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
The South Korean Supreme Court last week upheld health benefits for same-sex couples
SOUTH KOREA
The South Korean Supreme Court delivered a victory for same-sex couples last week, upholding a lower court ruling that found same-sex couples must be given equal access to benefits under the country’s National Health Insurance Service.
The ruling is a landmark as the first legal recognition of same-sex couples in the East Asian nation.
The Supreme Court ruled that the NHIS refusal to provide spousal benefits to same-sex couples was unconstitutional discrimination. The ruling is final.
The case was filed by a gay couple, So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min, in 2021 after the NHIS revoked So’s registration as a dependent of Kim and imposed a new premium. So and Kim had been a couple since 2017 and had held a marriage ceremony in 2019.
The NHIS allows married or common-law heterosexual couples to register as dependents in employer-backed insurance but had no policy recognizing same-sex couples.
The Seoul Administrative Court ruled for the NHIS in 2022, but the following year that decision was overturned by the Seoul High Court, which ruled for the couple that the denial was discriminatory.
“When I listened to the verdict, I was so moved that I couldn’t hold back my tears,” So told reporters outside the court. “It took four years to earn this dependent status. We need to fight harder to legalize same-sex marriage going forward.”
The advocacy group Marriage for All Korea said in a statement that the decision was just a first step.
“This decision brings hope to other same-sex couples living in Korean society and is a huge milestone toward marriage equality and equal citizenship for LGBTQ people. However, same-sex couples who are not legally recognized in their marriage still experience various forms of discrimination,” the statement says.
“The lengthy and arduous lawsuits that same-sex couples must endure to gain single rights as a spouse, as seen in this case, should no longer be necessary. Fundamentally, we will continue to push for a broader marriage equality movement to eliminate all institutional discrimination that hinders same-sex couples from legally marrying and fully enjoying their rights as spouses, and for LGBTQ people in Korea to enjoy equal citizenship.”
Several bills to recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions and to ban discrimination against LGBTQ people have been introduced by opposition members in South Korea’s parliament over the years, but none has progressed.
LITHUANIA
A final attempt to pass a long-stalled civil union bill before the end of the current session of Parliament came to an anticlimactic end on July 18, as the government withdrew the bill from the agenda before the final day session began.
The civil union bill had long been a bone of contention in the fractious governing coalition whose largest party is the conservative Homeland Union and includes the more progressive Freedom Party, which had made the bill a priority.
The bill passed through two readings in parliament in part with the support of leftist opposition parties, but when the opposition withdrew their support of the bill — in part to deny the government a win on the issue — the coalition no longer had enough votes to get it passed, as a segment of the Homeland Union opposed it.
Over the past month, the Freedom Party had attempted to strong-arm the Homeland Union holdouts into supporting the bill, by threatening to block Lithuania’s appointment of a European commissioner unless the party supported the bill.
In the last few days of parliament’s session before the legislature is dissolved for October elections, it seemed that the parties had come to an agreement, and the civil union bill was going to be put on the agenda for a final vote on the final day of the session.
But the opposition Social Democrats refused to play ball, once again preferring to deny the government a victory on the file, even though the Social Democrats had campaigned on supporting civil unions in the past. Without their votes, the bill would be doomed to fail.
The government withdrew the bill from the agenda rather than allow it to fail. This will allow the bill to be brought back by the new parliament in October, rather than starting the process over again.
Despite the bill’s withdrawal, anti-LGBTQ protesters met outside the parliament and burned rainbow flags. Vilnius police said they are investigating potential charges of incitement to hatred.
The two-round parliamentary election is scheduled for Oct. 13 and Oct. 27, and polling shows the Social Democrats currently hold a wide lead.
Lithuania is one of only five European Union countries that do not recognize same-sex unions. The others are Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Poland, the latter of which has proposed a civil union bill that its government hopes to pass in the fall.
UNITED KINGDOM
The newly elected Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer included a ban on conversion therapy in the King’s Speech that opened parliament on July 17, indicating that the bill will be a priority item during the session.
The King’s Speech is a tradition in UK politics, where the monarch reads a speech prepared by the government outlining its priorities for the upcoming session of parliament, usually lasting about a year.
During the election campaign, Starmer had pledged to back a transgender-inclusive ban on the abusive practice of conversion therapy, an issue which has become a political lightning rod in the UK over the past decade as a wave of anti-trans hysteria has gripped the media and much of the political class.
The previous Conservative government had pledged to ban conversion therapy six years ago but failed to bring a bill forward after floating the idea that the bill would allow conversion therapy for trans youth.
The UK LGBTQ advocacy group Stonewall praised the commitment to a conversion therapy ban in a statement.
“We welcome the new government’s commitment to banning conversion practices. Each day that these abusive practices remain legal, our communities are put at risk,” the statement says. “The government needs to urgently publish a comprehensive bill to ban these abhorrent practices once and for all.”
But the new government’s approach to trans issues is not entirely praiseworthy.
Two weeks ago, new Labour Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting announced that his government was defending and extending a ban on puberty blockers for trans youth that was put in place by the Conservatives. That action has been denounced by trans activists and legal experts.
JAPAN
A trans woman is suing for the right to change her legal gender without first divorcing her wife, in a challenge to the nation’s laws surrounding both same-sex marriage and gender recognition.
The woman, who has not been identified, is in her 50s and has been in a long-term marriage to her wife, who is in her 40s, and neither partner wants to divorce. While she has legally changed her name to a woman’s name, her identification still lists her as “male,” which forces her to have uncomfortable conversations outing her trans status whenever she needs to show official documents.
Since 2003, it has been possible for trans people to update their legal gender in Japan, but only if they are unmarried. That essentially forces any married trans person to divorce their partner if they want to update their gender.
In 2010, the Japanese Supreme Court upheld the requirement that trans people be unmarried to update their legal gender, calling the situation “reasonable” and saying it did not violate the constitution.
But the woman’s lawyers believe the legal situation has changed.
Since 2021, several district courts across Japan have found that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. While that has not yet legalized same-sex marriage, these cases will eventually be decided by the Supreme Court. If the court agrees with the lower courts that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, then it should also find the divorce requirement for trans people to be unconstitutional.
Yoko Mizutani, one of the woman’s lawyers, says this case may also contribute to legalizing same-sex marriage.
“Many of those concerned have resigned to the notion that if same-sex marriages are not recognized, the unmarried requirement of the act will not change. If we win this petition, it could also help resolve the issue of same-sex marriage.”
SPAIN
The Constitutional Court has provisionally blocked an anti-LGBTQ law passed by the government of the Madrid Community that stripped a number of legal protections from LGBTQ people; citing constitutional, discriminatory, and jurisdictional issues.
Last year, the local government, which is led by the right-wing People’s Party and supported by the far-right Vox party, passed a bill that stripped legal recognition of trans youth, stopped allowing legal gender change without a medical diagnosis, allowed anti-LGBTQ discrimination and authorized conversion therapy.
Despite these legal protections being stripped at the local level, national laws still afforded LGBTQ people all of these rights and protections.
The national government, which is currently led by the left-wing People’s Socialist Party, filed for the injunction against the law, which it called unconstitutional, which the Constitutional Court has accepted.
Japan
Japan’s first female prime minister reluctant to advance LGBTQ rights
Sanae Takaichi became country’s head of government last month
Sanae Takaichi last month became Japan’s first female prime minister after she secured the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership and both chambers of the Diet confirmed her.
She now leads a minority government after forming a coalition with the right-leaning Japan Innovation Party, following Komeito’s decision to end its 26-year partnership with the LDP. Her rise marks a historic break in Japanese politics, but the question remains whether she will advance the rights of Japan’s LGBTQ community?
Despite the milestone her election represents, Takaichi’s record on gender issues offers little indication of progressive change.
She has long emphasized “equality of opportunity” over structural reforms and has opposed measures that include allowing married couples to use separate surnames, a policy many women say would ease workplace discrimination. During her leadership bid Takaichi pledged to elevate women’s representation in government to Nordic levels, yet she appointed only two women to her 19-member Cabinet. Takaichi has also resisted efforts to modernize the Imperial Household Law to permit female succession, reinforcing her reputation as a conservative on women’s rights.
Takaichi’s stance on LGBTQ rights has been similarly cautious.
In a 2023 Diet budget committee session, she said there should be “no prejudice against sexual orientation or gender identity,” yet described extending marriage rights to same-sex couples as an “extremely difficult issue.”
Her earlier record is consistent.
In 2021, she opposed an LGBTQ-inclusive anti-discrimination bill that members of her own party, arguing its wording was too vague.
Even after becoming LDP leader in October 2025, she reiterated her opposition to marriage equality and emphasized traditional family values. Takaichi highlighted that Article 24 defines marriage as being based on “the mutual consent of both sexes” and frames the institution around “the equal rights of husband and wife,” language she argues leaves no constitutional room for extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.
While her rhetoric avoids overt hostility, her record suggests limited appetite for the structural reforms sought by Japan’s LGBTQ community.
A series of landmark court rulings has built escalating pressure for national reform.
On March 17, 2021, the Sapporo District Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the legal benefits of marriage violated the constitution’s equality clause. In May 2023, the Nagoya District Court similarly declared the ban unconstitutional, with a subsequent decision from the Fukuoka District Court reaffirming Japan’s current legal framework clashes with constitutional equality principles.
The momentum peaked on Oct. 30, 2024, when the Tokyo High Court found the marriage ban incompatible with guarantees of equality and individual dignity.
Japan remains the only G7 country without legal recognition of same-sex couples.
Akira Nishiyama, a spokesperson for the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation, noted to the Washington Blade that in leadership surveys the group conducted within the LDP in 2021 and again in 2025, Takaichi offered only a cautious position on reforming Japan’s legal gender recognition law. When asked whether she supported easing the requirements under the Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder, she responded that “multifaceted and careful discussion is necessary,” avoiding any commitment to substantive change.
Nishiyama added the legal landscape has already shifted.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the law’s sterilization requirement for legal gender recognition is unconstitutional, and several family courts have since struck down the appearance requirement on similar grounds. She urged the Takaichi administration to act quickly by amending the statute to remove these provisions, along with other elements long criticized as human rights violations.
“[Prime Minister] Takaichi has stated that ‘careful discussion is necessary’ regarding amendments to ‘Act on Special Cases in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder’ and the enactment of anti-discrimination laws based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI),” noted Nishiyama. “However, as indicated in Candidate (at that time) Takaichi’s responses to our survey, if she considers issues related to SOGI to be human rights issues, then she has to work hard to advance legal frameworks to address these issues.”
“For example, regarding the government’s announcement that they will consider whether same-sex couples could be included or not in the 130 laws concerning common-law marriages couples, [Prime Minister] Takaichi responded to our survey that ‘the government should continue to advance its consideration,’” she added. “As per this response, the Takaichi Cabinet should continue deliberating on this matter and ensure that same-sex couples are included in each relevant law.”
Takeharu Kato, an advocate for marriage equality who spoke to the Blade in a personal capacity, urged observers not to view Takaichi’s appointment solely through a negative lens.
He acknowledged she holds deeply conservative views within the LDP and has openly opposed marriage equality, but noted several aspects of her background could leave room for movement.
“She is Japan’s first female prime minister in history. Furthermore, she does not come from a political family background but rather from an ordinary household,” said Kato. “She also has an unusual career path, having graduated from a local university and worked as a television news anchor before entering politics.”
“Additionally, while her husband is a member of the Diet, he became partially paralyzed due to a cerebral infarction, and she has been caring for him,” he further noted. “She possesses several minority attributes like these, and depending on our future efforts, there is a possibility she could change her stance on same-sex marriage. It could also be said that, as a woman navigating the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, she has deliberately emphasized conservative attitudes to appeal to her base of right-wing supporters.”
Kato stressed that “having reached the pinnacle as prime minister, it cannot be said she (Takaichi) has no potential to change.”
“We need not alter the strategy we have pursued thus far,” Kato told the Blade. “However, we believe some fine-tuning is necessary, such as refining our messaging to resonate with those holding more conservative values.”
Chile
Chilean presidential election outcome to determine future of LGBTQ rights in country
Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast favored to win Dec. 14 runoff.
The results of Chile’s presidential election will likely determine the future of LGBTQ rights in the country.
While Congresswoman Emilia Schneider, the first transgender woman elected to Congress, managed to retain her seat on Sunday, the runoff to determine who will succeed outgoing President Gabriel Boric will take place on Dec. 14 and will pit two diametrically opposed candidates against each other: the far-right José Antonio Kast and Communist Jeannette Jara.
Schneider, an emblematic figure in the LGBTQ rights movement and one of the most visible voices on trans rights in Latin America, won reelection in a polarized environment. Human rights organizations see her continued presence in Congress as a necessary institutional counterweight to the risks that could arise if the far-right comes to power.
Kast v. Jara
The presidential race has become a source of concern for LGBTQ groups in Chile and international observers.
Kast, leader of the Republican Party, has openly expressed his rejection of gender policies, comprehensive sex education, and reforms to anti-discrimination laws.
Throughout his career, he has supported conservative positions aligned with sectors that question LGBTQ rights through rhetoric that activists describe as stigmatizing. Observers say his victory in the second-round of the presidential election that will take place on Dec. 14 could result in regulatory and cultural setbacks.
Jara, who is the presidential candidate for the progressive Unidad por Chile coalition, on the other hand has publicly upheld her commitment to equal rights. She has promised to strengthen mechanisms against discrimination, expand health policies for trans people, and ensure state protection against hate speech.
For Schneider, this new legislative period is shaping up to be a political and symbolic challenge.
Her work has focused on combating gender violence, promoting reform of the Zamudio Law, the country’s LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination and hate crimes law named after Daniel Zamudio, a gay man murdered in Santiago, the Chilean capital, in 2012, and denouncing transphobic rhetoric in Congress and elsewhere.
Schneider’s continued presence in Congress is a sign of continuity in the defense of recently won rights, but also a reminder of the fragility of those advances in a country where ideological tensions have intensified.
LGBTQ organizations point out that Schneider will be key to forging legislative alliances in a potentially divided Congress, especially if Kast consolidates conservative support.
Kazakhstan
Kazakh lawmakers advance anti-LGBTQ propaganda bill
Measure likely to pass in country’s Senate
Lawmakers in Kazakhstan on Wednesday advanced a bill that would ban so-called LGBTQ propaganda in the country.
Reuters notes the measure, which members of the country’s lower house of parliament unanimously approved, would ban “‘LGBT propaganda’ online or in the media” with “fines for violators and up to 10 days in jail for repeat offenders.”
The bill now goes to the Kazakh Senate.
Reuters reported senators will likely support the measure. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has also indicated he would sign it.
Kazakhstan is a predominantly Muslim former Soviet republic in Central Asia that borders Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China.
Consensual same-sex sexual relations are decriminalized in Kazakhstan, but the State Department’s 2023 human rights report notes human rights activists have “reported threats of violence and significant online and in-person verbal abuse towards LGBTQI+ individuals.” The document also indicates discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity remains commonplace in the country. (Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration who co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, in August condemned the current White House for the “deliberate erasure” of LGBTQ and intersex people from the State Department’s 2024 human rights report.)
Russia, Georgia, and Hungary are among the other countries with propaganda laws.
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