Japan is on the verge of instituting a nationwide LGBTQ+ education program, designed to address a lack of public knowledge on gender and sexual diversity in the country, ABC Japan reports.
The plan was approved by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) earlier this month and is expected to get a sign-off by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet, despite the new PM’s official opposition to same-sex marriage. Takaichi was elected to the post by Japan’s Parliament in October.
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Observers say young people’s enthusiasm for Takaichi may be one factor behind her approval of the measure, as young Japanese people are much more in favor of same-sex marriage than older Japanese people.
Takaichi has gone on record opposing marriage equality, despite previously saying that “there should be no prejudice against sexual orientation or gender identity.”
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The education measure stems from the Act on the Promotion of Public Understanding of the Diversity of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which passed in 2023 and required the creation of the new plan.
While it hasn’t been made public, the initiative reportedly includes requirements for schools to provide information to students about sexually and gender-diverse people, as well as access to social workers and counselors. The plan also directs universities to add training on sexual diversity for future healthcare workers and academics.
Yui Oizumi, a queer student at Sophia University in Tokyo, described the education plan as a “baby step.”
“Training teachers and employers to be mindful is good. But at the same time, I think it’s not really going to do much to change the perception of regular everyday people and how they think about queer people,” she said. “I think that’s going to take more time and more conscious effort, through media, as well.”
The student said it’s uncommon to experience outright homophobia in Japan, but the average Japanese person lacks an understanding of what being LGBTQ+ is.
“That is such an alien concept that people are like, ‘What do you mean? That doesn’t make any sense.’”
She said anti-discrimination laws would be more effective, pointing to friends in a lesbian relationship who had been denied housing because they’re gay.
Japan does not have nationwide anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination laws and is the only member of the G7 that has not legalized same-sex marriage.
“The LDP is very conservative, especially for promoting traditional family values,” said Kazuyoshi Kawasaka, an expert on LGBTQ+ rights in Japan at The University of Tokyo. He said the government had decided against anti-discrimination laws to appease conservative factions of the LDP.
That’s made progress on LGBTQ+ rights in Japan “very tricky” for activists, he said.
Charles Crabtree, a political scientist at Monash University in Melbourne, said the education measure could have positive downstream effects for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Misinformation or a cloudy sense of ‘the other,’ whatever that ‘other’ is, impedes individuals’ ability to empathize with those who are different from them,” Dr. Crabtree said. “Education can have an effect.”
Based on previous survey data, he said a large plurality of Japanese people “may be potentially malleable in terms of their views.”
In the meantime, Japan’s two-steps-forward, one-step-back march to marriage quality continues. In October, the government extended the application of nine laws related to spousal rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples, a significant, if limited, victory.
Three of eight of Japan’s regional high courts in the last few years have ruled that the government’s failure to grant legal recognition to same-sex couples is unconstitutional.
In November, however, Tokyo’s High Court ruled in favor of Japan’s same-sex marriage ban, saying it doesn’t violate the country’s constitution.
But there was a caveat. The judge noted that “it is inevitable that constitutional violations will arise” and that “the issue should first be thoroughly deliberated” in Japan’s Parliament.
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