Japanese companies are adopting pro-equality policies in a country where same-sex marriage remains illegal.

Subaru Corp. has spent decades building a reputation as an LGBTQ-friendly company. In the 1990s it introduced ads in the US geared toward lesbians. And the company later won praise for its equality policies for employees, including offering domestic partner benefits to American employees in same-sex relationships more than a decade before the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing marriage equality in 2015. But the automaker’s home market of Japan, which still doesn’t allow same-sex marriage, remained a major gap in its approach—until last year.

Last April the maker of vehicles such as the Forester SUV revised its benefits policy in Japan to cover same-sex partners of employees. With that shift, Subaru, which declined to comment on how its policies affecting LGBTQ employees have evolved, joined a growing list of companies working harder to promote equality in the absence of government action. Blue chips such as Nintendo, Rakuten, Sony and Toyota offer benefits to same-sex partners of their employees in Japan, and there are large companies with pro-equality policies in almost every segment of the economy, from instant noodles maker Nissin Foods Holdings and convenience store operator FamilyMart to cigarette giant Japan Tobacco and insurance company Sompo Holdings.

Sompo’s LGBTQ policies helped attract Masato Ima, who works in its Sompo Japan Insurance human capital department and uses they/them pronouns. Ima joined the company in 2019 after being warned by their previous employer, a subsidiary of a major bank, against coming out as nonbinary. Sompo “allows a free expression of the self,” Ima says. “We want employees to be able to fully utilize their abilities.” Sompo has also made changes to tap into potential LGBTQ consumer demand, revising its auto insurance offerings to include same-sex partners in 2018 and its accident and fire insurance products in 2019.

By many other measures, Japan is still a laggard. The country is the only Group of Seven member without marriage equality, and the conservative national political establishment has shown little interest in changing the law. Courts have rejected challenges, including a November ruling in Tokyo that upheld the ban on same-sex marriage.

That’s left the promotion of equality to businesses and local leaders less influenced by national politics. More than 350 companies and organizations support reversing the same-sex marriage ban, according to Business for Marriage Equality, a campaign backed by three nonprofits. Among them are IT services company Fujitsu, Tokyo-based tiremaker Bridgestone and Toto, a producer of toilets, sinks and bathroom accessories. Yamaha Corp., which makes pianos, guitars and other musical instruments, has had an equal benefits policy for employees and their partners since 2019 and endorsed marriage equality on Feb. 13. Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg Businessweek, has also signed on to the campaign to end the ban.

(Starting in the later 1980's many American companies expanded policies, rights and benefits to include LGT+ persons, which was back when gay sex was still illegal in many states. It was the recognition that most gay couples have two incomes and no children and thus a lot of disposable income to spend that changed corporate views and really propelled LGBT+ rights forward. I think we'd have gone forward either way, but the financial incentive to gain loyal gay customers really sped things up. I think Japan is reaching similar realizations.)