Yay, Nintendo!
Gaymers have something to celebrate today. One of the biggest video game companies says it will stick by its LGBTQ employees. That’s despite what its country thinks of same-sex marriage.
According to Go Nintendo, the gaming giant recently updated its corporate social responsibility guidelines. In the update, Nintendo shares that it will provide the same benefits to its employees in domestic partnerships with a same-sex partner as those in opposite-sex unions and marriages. In addition, the company revised its internal regulations regarding harassment to “clearly prohibit discriminatory comments based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as disclosing someone’s privately held sexual orientation against their will.”
“We want to create a work environment that supports and empowers each and every one of our unique employees,” Nintendo Japan said.
“Although same-sex marriages are not currently recognized under Japanese law, this system ensures employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage,” Nintendo’s CSR site explains. “We have also established that a common-law marriage between couples will be observed in the same way as a legal marriage.”
This news comes after a district court in Osaka, Japan upheld Japan’s nationwide ban on same-sex marriages last month. The court ruled that a same-sex marriage ban is not unconstitutional. This ruling was issued after three same-sex couples – two male, one female –requested 1 million yen ($6,004) in damages each.
As for the country’s executive branch, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed caution when asked about lifting the ban. Kishida said that the “issue needs to be carefully considered” before any action takes place.
Despite this, same-sex couples are able to obtain partnership certificates in certain parts of the country. This allows the couples to enjoy some benefits and rights like renting together as a unit. That said, inheriting assets and parental rights are not within those rights.
Source: Go Nintendo,
Nintendo gave the gays 1-UP , video game humor.