Japan yesterday enacted a law meant to promote understanding of the LGBT community that critics said provides no human rights guarantees, while some conservative lawmakers said the measure is too permissive.
Japan, the only G7 nation that does not have legal protection for same-sex unions, had originally pledged to pass the law before hosting a G7 summit last month.
However, wrangling over the bill meant it was only submitted to parliament for consideration on May 18, the day before the summit began.
Photo: Reuters
The initial draft stipulated that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity should “not be tolerated,” but was changed to “there should be no unfair discrimination,” which critics have said tacitly encourages some forms of discrimination.
Despite the bill being watered down, some members of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party broke ranks with party directives, boycotting or walking out of a vote on Tuesday in the Japanese House of Representatives and the final vote in the Japanese House of Councilors.
“There have been crimes committed by impersonators in women’s restrooms,” former Japanese House of Councilors president Akiko Santo said after boycotting the vote in that chamber. “It would be a very serious problem if this bill passed and the trend became that it was normal to accept anything.”
Japan has come under pressure from other G7 nations, especially the US, to allow same-sex marriage.
Business leaders have said they fear Japan will not be able to remain internationally competitive without greater diversity, including representation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people — especially as Tokyo seeks to promote itself as a global financial center.
“As a financial institution, in order to achieve sustainable growth, it is essential to create an environment in which people with diverse backgrounds and values can play an active role,” Japan Bankers Association chairperson and Mizuho Bank president Masahiko Kato told a news conference this week.
The Japanese public broadly supports same-sex marriage, opinion polls have shown, while local governments in most of the country allow same-sex partnership agreements that fall short of the rights guaranteed by marriage.
“Some 70 percent of the nation allows same-sex partnerships, and surveys have found more than 70 percent of people are in favor of same-sex marriage,” activist group Marriage for All Japan wrote on Twitter after the bill passed.
“Even business leaders are on our side. Now, parliament and the government must move,” it said.
Kishida in February sacked an aide who had sparked outrage by saying people would flee Japan if same-sex marriage was allowed, and that he did not want to live next to LGBT couples.
However, Kishida has remained noncommittal on same-sex marriage, saying circumstances in each nation are different and discussion had to proceed “carefully.”
In five court cases on same-sex marriage over the past two years, four courts ruled either that not allowing it was unconstitutional or nearly so. One said not allowing it was in line with the constitution.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS