Apr 26 (Kyodo) - About 20 companies in Japan will start accepting "partnership certificates" in July for same-sex couples issued by a nongovernmental organization as a way of providing employees with spousal and familial benefits available to straight married couples, people familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The certificates, to be created by Famiee Project, will be for use by participating companies including Mizuho Financial Group Inc., but is expected to raise awareness of difficulties LGBT couples have in a country where same-sex marriage is not legally recognized.
"We want to start changing where we can through the private sector so that families of same-sex couples can be recognized as normal," said Famiee founder Koki Uchiyama.
Local authorities in Japan issue partnership certificates in an attempt to smooth the road as much as possible for sexual minorities facing obstacles in gaining equal access to public housing or in making medical decisions for their partners.
However, municipal partnership certificates are not legally binding and only apply to residents within their respective municipalities, leaving many lesbian and gay couples unable to prove their relationship.
This leaves businesses struggling to verify the relationships of those without municipal certificates even when company rules include benefits for same-sex couples.
Mizuho, for example, has offered spousal and familial benefits to employees in same-sex relationships since 2016, such as family care leave and monetary wedding gifts. But it had difficulty applying these to those unable to prove their relationships.
