Debating same-sex marriage in Japan: Legitimation strategies in parliamentary discourse

Abstract

This study investigates how lawmakers legitimise their positions on legalising same-sex marriage in Japanese parliamentary debates. All speeches containing the word 同性婚/同性結婚 ‘same-sex marriage’ were obtained and divided into two corpora depending on whether the speaker agreed with its legalisation. The keywords from both corpora were extracted by comparison. A corpus-assisted method identified salient legitimation strategies. Supporters of same-sex marriage appeal to the results of polls, court rulings, opinions of other G7 member countries, and the alleged influence of religious rights to legitimise their position. Conversely, opponents of same-sex marriage highlight potential threats to traditional heteropatriarchal family structures and react negatively to pressures from other G7 member countries, emphasising Japan’s historical and religious context regarding homosexuality. The findings suggest the importance of more general discussions on human rights to move beyond the discursive framework of cultural differences.