Top court says same-sex partners eligible for crime victims' benefit

Japan's top court on Tuesday said same-sex partners are eligible for crime victims' benefits as surviving family members, the first such ruling in the country that does not recognize same-sex marriage.The Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench scrapped the Nagoya High Court ruling and sent back the case to the high court, which did not recognize the eligibility of Yasuhide Uchiyama, 49, whose same-sex partner of decades was murdered.The victims' benefit law stipulates that those eligible for payments include those in common-law marriages. Whether a same-sex partnership could be considered a comm…READ FULL ARTICLE