Like any other parent, Kichimaru, a lesbian in her 30s raising an infant in Tokyo, feeds her daughter, changes her diapers and helps put her to sleep every day at home with her partner.
If the child were hospitalized, Kichimaru, who asked to go by her online pseudonym, worries that she would not be allowed to sign consent forms or make medical decisions for the infant since she is not her legal parent under Japanese law, which does not recognize same-sex marriages.
Kichimaru would have no automatic parental relationship with the child she is helping to raise if her partner — the biological parent — dies or falls into a coma.
