Teacher apologizes after making LGBT comment to scold student in class

A 5th grader who is LBGT?

At that age was more concerned with riding my bike and playing SNES.

He knows a student in class is LGBT but Still makes a remark like that? Insensitive to anyone who is different? I'm glad he apologized but even thinking of that statement needs more "study groups".

It's more likely the boy reading with girl voice was trying to make fun of the classmate with LGBT parent! I think teacher tried to stop it but actually made the things even worse.

Oh, good grief! The monster parents strike again and make national news. This is obviously a case of a comment taken out of context and the monster parent just jumped on the phone. I guess the teacher could have been a little more tactful in the delivery of such a comment as to not cause offense, but how can something as trivial as this make national news? I question the sexual preference of my 3rd grade junior high male students constantly, especially when they are grabbing at other boys' willies. However, the kid in this case is only ten or eleven years old, which does make it a bad taste comment. He should keep such comments for his 'okama' mates at the pub.

Glad that it was this way round.

There exist places where talking about gay people, in a way which implies that they are human beings with rights, attracts complaints and charges of "pushing a liberal agenda."

I doesn't matter of there are no LGBT students in the class, you do not make bigoted comments like that.

Mike L: A 5th grader who is LBGT? At that age was more concerned with riding my bike and playing SNES.

One doesn't suddenly become LGBTQI after the 5th grade, and identity can't be likened to a hobby or pastime.

So lgbt is an adjective now?

A male teacher sternly tells a kid off for being an idiot in class. I think his choice of words was poor, but it's hard to see how this is newsworthy.

Yeah, and that's going to solve everything, eh. Not. If that were my kid being scolded, expect a lawsuit, or the teacher exposed to the media. Interesting that LGBT is an adjective.

I can't believe so many people are defending the parent for complaining and scolding the teacher. I guess most of you are the younger oversensitive and 'politically correct' generation. One of my best mates that I grew up with is homosexual (yes, I use that word because I don't even know what the hell LGBT stands for) and we have been mates for getting on 40 years. His nickname is, 'fag' and has been for over 30 years. He has no problem with his sexuality or nickname, neither do I. I wonder how many of the poster's here are LGBT (whatever that means) and how many are just up for a rant about something they know absolutely nothing about.

Dusillusioned.

Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender.

Why am I not surprised this occurred in Saitama? They need to get some ethics people in that prefecture in particular. And this teacher needs to be canned ASAP and his license taken away. Finally, the BOEs in Japan need to stop the rote testing to pass a teacher, and start doing a one year practicum instead of two weeks (one observing, one teaching), with the pass/fail being if an how they can manage it as well as reports by the regular classroom teachers. The only people they seem to hold to standards lower than teachers when hiring are police and politicians. Pay the money, pass the rote tests, and you're in. Apologies from the relevant agencies come after the finger-pointing.

@Disillusioned -

You know why your friend took that nickname? Because it was shouted at him for over 30 years and instead of letting that hateful word hold power over him and beat him, he stood up tall, laughed at it and showed he won't be ruled over by it. Your friend shows real strength and courage.

Instead of being proud to not know what kids are going through today and living in the modern world, why want try to educate yourself on what LGBT means.

It's like hearing those stories of an old white man saying, my black friend laughed when we called him the N word, heck, I don't even know what Civil Rights means.

Sheesh, is political correctness now arriving in Japan? Until now, this place was blissfully free of that nonsense. "Koko ni okama ga irunoka. Dare da okama wa,".... come one, that is just good natured fun. And what is this nonsense about the parents of a 5th grader deciding that he is "TLGBT"? In 5th grade?? Are they trying to push an agenda on their child? At that age kids are just kids.

Disillusioned

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: You probably shouldn't be working with children if you think that kind of behavior is appropriate. Not just the teacher's, but also your own.

Sincerely someone who is actually LGBT.

Did the teacher know there was a gay student in the class? If so, I think that's significantly worse as it's deliberately malicious. If not, it's still a stupid comment to say to students but maybe unintentional

Article states that he and school officials know.

likely he is a member of Nippon Kaigi knowing how they look at LGBT.

Following the incident, the board of education held a study group on Tuesday, inviting all principals from the city’s municipal elementary and junior-high schools to discuss ways to prevent similar incidents and promote “a better understanding of the LGBT community.”

Inviting?

How proactive!

Wow this is becoming little America.

....nice (in a way)

Maybe the kid is either L,G,B or T, but surely not (yet) a member of the LGBT 'community', or are people automatically a member even if they have not yet met another, and do not even realize there is such a varied community? Automatic membership?

Automatic membership?

I was wondering about that. Are people aware of their sexuality in 5th Grade? (I honestly can't remember, but I think I was just becoming aware of it.) If staff were aware, I'm guessing this was a "T" (gender) issue and not so much an LGB (sexual) issue.

This is news??????

Please, please JT don't waste our time.

Come on people! It's 2017 not 1617! Lack of training on behalf of the teacher. Please!

Mona Lisa:

Brilliant post.

The incident surfaced after the parents of another student in the class, who is LGBT

Bit silly to identify/categorise a 5th grader as LGBT imo. Don't think he/she is 'actively" gay, bi or transgender, probably Q i.e questioning his/her own sexuality.

Whether there was a gay student or not in the classroom is imo irrelevant. The teacher made a very insensitive and inappropriate comment in front of a classroom full of kids who need adult's input & guidance to understand and accept 'others'.

Suspect the offensive kid's grades may suffer a bit. Passive aggressive tendencies will kick in.

If, in this day and age, it is OK to be LGBT, the child who was offended should feel happy that there was another person in "their" group, not offended.

But see, that's the whole point: to play the victim. And so "they" were 'offended'.

sexual minorities 

Do 'Lolicons' count in that category ?

Dan Lewis: "But see, that's the whole point"

Actually, you obviously missed the whole point: a teacher abused his power and stooped to insulting an entire group of people, directing it at a child.

"It's more likely the boy reading with girl voice was trying to make fun of the classmate with LGBT parent! I think teacher tried to stop it but actually made the things even worse."

Actually, it sounds like the student was mocking another student, and the teacher endorsed his budding homophobia instead of teaching that it is wrong.

"Maybe the kid is either L,G,B or T, but surely not (yet) a member of the LGBT 'community', or are people automatically a member even if they have not yet met another, and do not even realize there is such a varied community? Automatic membership?"

Yes. Just like if he was Black, or Jewish, or Disabled, etc, he/she would belong to that group's community.

Look he probably shouldn't have said that. But don't justify the LGBT life style. It's not moral.

smithinjapan: Why am I not surprised this occurred in Saitama? They need to get some ethics people in that prefecture in particular.

Why don't you come to Saitama meet me and my family. According to you we are all unethical just because we happen to live in Saitama. Maybe you could teach us 'ethics' from your 'superior moral high ground'. Would you be so inclined? Thanks in advance. for your kindness.

A 5th grader who knows they are gay? In JAPAN? I'll believe that when the alien from Venus makes me a sandwich. At that age, they're more focused on being kids. They don't even know about feelings.

A 5th grader who knows they are gay? In JAPAN? I'll believe that when the alien from Venus makes me a sandwich. At that age, they're more focused on being kids. They don't even know about feelings.

Did you know that you were heterosexual when you were in the 5th grade?

Mirai Hayashi: "Did you know that you were heterosexual when you were in the 5th grade?"

As a matter of fact, I did, although I knew little to nothing about homosexuality to contrast my feelings with. I just knew I was interested in girls. And don't knock the aliens from Venus -- they make Hatoyama's wife sandwiches all the time.

But again, you guys questioning the kid's sexuality are missing the real point -- that a teacher abused his power and insulted a group of people, aiming his insensitivity and poor judgement at a child because he disagrees with homosexuality.

Mirai: Oops! Didn't notice you were quoting sir_bently.

LGBT comment

Let me correct that for you. There is no such thing as an "LGBT comment". The word you need is homophobic .

Dan: "the child who was offended should feel happy that there was another person in "their" group, not offended."

There wasn't anyone else.

Just the one kid who probably felt the teacher was obliquely alluding to him/her.

Although it also seems to me that perhaps the teacher's comments were taken out of context here, hope that Japan can become a socially intelligent nation is fading more and more each day. Frankly, I see appalling behavior and social attitudes daily here.

LGBT's are widely categorized as entertainment or something to be mocked, just like foreigners. Just look at the daily portrayals of guys dressing up in drag (or vice-versa) for their comedy routines on the TV.

Live and let live has just never caught on here, and never will.

Hope there were no gay students in the class. Some students might conceal that they are LGBT, and teachers should care about them more.

Actually, you obviously missed the whole point: a teacher abused his power and stooped to insulting an entire group of people, directing it at a child.

Nonsense. The teacher was playing with one of his students. Another student took offense.

There wasn't anyone else

Apparently, we're supposed to refer to them in the plural. Just trying to be PC. ;-)

5th Grade is 10–11 years old.

And they are already defining themselves sexually?

What are the parents putting into their minds?

I don't understand the subtleties in the use of language here, so what is "okama" equivalent to; gay, queer, queen, faggot, bender, fairy etc.

How harsh is it really?

I thought the o- was an honorific.

Every gay I've ever known has used every "bad" gay word to describe themselves and other gays, usually decorated with colorful expletives. I understand it's the same in Japan with okama.

And, for the record, one individual cannot be "LGBT" because it require at least two sexes. (I never got how lesbians were not "Gay").

I understand that strictly speaking it means a feminine man or transvestite (a man who dresses up and acts like a woman).

Another interesting one is okoge, which is a word for those who prefer the company of homosexuals, literally "the rice that sticks to the pot" (kama, hence o-kama).

Does Japanese have polite "technical" words for all the various? Why is using them more "polite" than using informal ones; e.g. "homosexual" in preference to gay or queer. In English we have Latin derivatives but they made the condition sound more like a disease than the informal ones that are used by the individuals themselves.

Glad the teacher was disciplined, no excuse for a teacher behaving like that. What I find most interesting is that it seems to be yet the latest example of a social trend in Japan catching on about 15-20 years after the US. No-smoking, sexual harassment, and now political correctness around gay issues. Not being critical, just an observation.

I'm so sad to here that this affair was happened in Japan. As a position of educator, his behavior should not be excusable. Even if there are no LGBT students in the class, teachers must not say "OKAMA" to the student. In fact, I can only say that we don't have much knowledge about LGBT in Japan. It is not only for the students, but also for the teachers. In order to eliminate this kind of affairs in the future, people have to think about improvement plan. And also, I think we need to get specialized education about LGBT in the school.

A male teacher sternly tells a kid off for being an idiot in class. I think his choice of words was poor, but it's hard to see how this is newsworthy.

It's newsworthy because the teacher abused his/her position and made a judgemental homophobic comment. Even in this day and age there are still those who believe it's acceptable to behave in that manner. And there are those who think it's being "pc" to take offense.

I wonder how many of the poster's here are LGBT (whatever that means) and how many are just up for a rant about something they know absolutely nothing about.

I'm horrified that someone can profess to be a teacher with such lacklustre knowledge concerning the human condition.

His nickname is, 'fag' and has been for over 30 years. He has no problem with his sexuality or nickname, neither do I.

And that makes it ok? Trying to justify homophobia because one of your mates can't be bothered to reject cruel epithets?

Sheesh, is political correctness now arriving in Japan? Until now, this place was blissfully free of that nonsense. "

Yeah, why can't such kids just accept their lot in life is to be an object of derision?

Koko ni okama ga irunoka. Dare da okama wa,".... come one, that is just good natured fun.

Imagine every day you're picked on by not just fellow pupils but teachers. All under the guise of "fun".

And what is this nonsense about the parents of a 5th grader deciding that he is "TLGBT"? In 5th grade?? Are they trying to push an agenda on their child? At that age kids are just kids.

Because nobody at that age has ever had a crush on someone else. Ever. Nobody at that age could possibly be intelligent and aware enough, right?

As a card carrying member of the right wing, at first glance this teacher seems like a bit of a tool. I can only imagine what might happen back in The World if a teacher made a comment like, "you read like a fag"! And deservedly so.

However, is there something lost in translation here? Does the word "okama" in Japanese carry the same weight and negative connotation? That is the key with a bunch of non-native speakers trying to evaluate the possible impact of such a comment.

5th grade is how old, 11? If you think hormones and sweatiness and pimples and crushes haven't kicked in by then, then you are too old to remember your own pre-teen years. And along with that comes awareness of your preferences, ie who you are attracted to.

I have had colleagues who expressed mockery of homosexuality in the classroom, and I was very quick to firmly correct them. It is unacceptable to mock anyone based on their difference from you, and doing it in front of children shows them that it is ok to do so, when it definitely is not.

Maria.

Fułly agree, been many decades but it remember feeling strongly about a girl. Ditto for my son.

‘And they called it Puppy Love.'

However, is there something lost in translation here? Does the word "okama" in Japanese carry the same weight and negative connotation?

Weight - no.

Negative connotation - yes.

Morality, as in what are acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and attitudes, changes with the times and in 2017, the teacher's comment is unacceptable.

If a fifth grader thinks he or she is LGBT, I think the default position has to be to believe him or her. I am perfectly aware that not fitting into "accepted" gender roles is one way to rebel and/or bring attention to yourself, just look at celebs in the media or even David Bowie claiming to be gay (legend has it on his wife's advice) way back when, but hopefully the ability to do this will end over time through greater acceptance of LGBT.

Funnily enough, it was also something David Bowie publicly regretted doing in latter life.

I'm more concerned at 10 year olds being sexualized and dragged into the gender identity war.

As far as I can work out, the word is most accurate used for feminine males, than gays, like "girlie boy" in English. traditionally speaking, it was for cross dresser who acted as pastiches of women.

Given the other boy was speaking like girl for whatever reason, to make a joke, I don't think it sounds such a terrible reprimand.

Japan's history is actually a lot more tolerant of sexual diversity than the West's and such individuals had a role in society and were commonplace, e.g. in theater companies.

Try reading 'Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan' edited by Mark McLelland, Romit Dasgupta.

There is, of course, a weird something else going on in Japan among the more, so called "left wing" of which the teachers' union is notorious(-ly nuts) and that is degenderizing childrens, trying to make them all one, for there to be no clearly defined male and female stereotypes and segregation.

The jury's still open as to how that one goes. Folks should just be aware any time "teachers union" comes up that they have a reputation for some crazy ideas, mostly borrowed second hand from the West.

As an example of the need for caution before jumping to conclusions, from 'Genders, Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan', it says the PC term for it for a long time was gei but that more recently homo is gaining ground.

Whereas "homo" in the West has pretty much always been a pejorative term.

Something else that comes out of it, excuse the pun, is that between different groups, e.g. transvestite versus transgender, there is no unified or shared acceptance of which terms mean what.

Something that I particularly dislike about the PC crowd is their moronically literal interpretation of words, the fixation of use of words rather than what the words were meaning or being used. In this case, the teacher could just have been saying, "stop acting like a girl" to the male student who was.

Perhaps a more important discussion to be had is regarding the hyper-feminization of women in general in Japan. After all, women are over 51% whereas homos are only 1 or 2 % (by international standards).

even David Bowie claiming to be gay (legend has it on his wife's advice) way back when,

Sexuality can be fluid. It's not all black and white.

I'm more concerned at 10 year olds being sexualized and dragged into the gender identity war.

Nobody's dragging anyone into anything. A lot of kids know where they're at for that age. It's not like you chose to be heterosexual - you just are. Same goes with being bisexual or homosexual.

I'm more concerned at 10 year olds being sexualized 

Well, for one thing, girls already are.

Secondly, nobody is encouraging kids to have sex, but why deny their natural awareness of their own bodies and feelings? I had a crush on a boy when I was about ten, and had mad pashes on James Dean, Redford and Newman, and other movie/music stars. If an adult had said aloud, mockingly, that such feelings were wrong or laughable, that would have had a very negative effect on me.

If an adult had said aloud, mockingly, that such feelings were wrong or laughable, that would have had a very negative effect on me.

That would have been the adult projecting their own unhappiness and failures onto their pupils.

@Maria

It's the labeling and fixing of such emotions as sexual identities at such an early age that concerns me, especially from parties with a personal or collective interest in them, e.g. adult homosexuals.

It's true to say children also develop intense emotional bonds with their "best friends", those are now being interpreted as sexual and of particular sexual identities.

10 years old is a little young to encourage sexual identities and I would be surprised if a child alone came up with such an idea, even had the language to come up with such an idea, unless the parents had put it in their minds.

I'd want to know more about their parents and suspect they were these crazy "gender activists" that is part of a fad right now.

Besides, if you look closely at what is being said, and refer to studies in the area, the complaint is regarding a difference in identity between being an okama and a LGBT. Even in the West, only a minority of homosexuals would refer to themselves as LGBT. They'd say gay or lesbian.

It's the bizarre use of LGBT as an identity, especially in Japan (it's not really a Japanese term), that makes me question what is going on. Some sort of politically correctness gone mad.

Equally if parents of a 10 year came into class claiming that their 10 year child was homosexual, I'd be concern that some kind of abuse was going on.

Crushes and sexual identities are quite different things.

I am presuming that you did not act sexually on those individuals at that age, nor let others act sexually upon you on the basis of them? They were part of natural emotional development but the kind of development that can be distorted and exploited by those that prey on young people, homosexual pederasts.

I think it's also important to see it in the Japanese context where recent research shows the percentage of aged 16-19 who responded they were "not interested in sex at all or felt an aversion to it" was 60%, the percentage of aged 18-19 who said they had never had sex was 68% and, eg, for women 30-34 it was 24%.

So even at age 34, one out of four women are still virgins in Japan.

Therefore to believe 10 years are self-identifying as homosexuals is difficult. I'd tend to suspect it was more about a crazy "politically correct" mother looping out. Perhaps she/they have an over-protected effeminate son* and are blowing things out of proportion?

@Hammerhead

I know this is an old post but I can't help but notice that you seem to be reading straight out of the anti-gay/homosexual/LGB playbook in regards to fears, biases, and presumptions toward our demographic. First, there was the lambast toward "political correctness". I grew up within a rural area of the American Bible Belt where political correctness did not exist in any form. As a result(?), my young developing ears were inundated with negativity toward homosexuals and homosexuality from a very early age that continued on to adulthood and beyond. This had a decidedly negative effect on my psychological development and sense of self, since I was and still am homosexual.

Following your comments, this bled into an almost abject disbelief that a 10-year old child could possibly self-identify as homosexual followed by an accusation of child abuse toward the parents. My retort to this is that "one never seems to be too young to realize they're straight, but one is never old enough to know that they're gay." This is the double-standard that I've encountered regarding sexuality. I have spoken to many heterosexual males who have stated that (even prior to puberty) they felt a draw toward girls. They just felt something alluring to girls and found them to be beautiful. This would, of course, bloom into full-blown heterosexuality upon the onset of puberty. Likewise, I, myself, found other boys (and men) to be alluring and beautiful. I found myself to be intensely drawn to them in a profound and visceral way. Meanwhile, I never felt any of these same feelings toward girls. And, for the record, I was reared within an intensely old-fashioned family and had a strong connection with my father. It only deteriorated when they discovered that I was homosexual and then that's when the abuse unfortunately began. Finally, I was kicked out of the house during my senior year of high school for getting caught logging on "gay" websites.

Boys begin puberty anywhere from 9-14 years of age, girls start anywhere between 8-13. So, it is entirely possible that this youngster could already have begun puberty. Likewise, feelings of attraction may have already manifested themselves even before becoming sexual with the advent of puberty. It is important that these children are not exposed to anti-homosexual rhetoric in their formative years as "recurrent chronic humiliation" was found to be the greatest contributing factor with regards to children developing mental illnesses and psychological issues in adulthood as a direct result of their childhood/adolescent experiences. This was from the Adverse Childhood Experiences study. Gay/bisexual/lesbian children are a demographic that is known to be overwhelmed with these experiences of shame, humiliation, and invalidation. This is a huge contributing factor to the epidemic of mental health issues that plague us. And it has been connected to the stigma that we endure time and again.

Another piece of recurring misinformation that I see being pandered from the anti-LGBT crowd is that we only represent an increasingly tiny portion of the population. Indeed, we are a minority. But that percentage continuously shrinks in blogs/reports/statements from the Right/Anti-Gay/Anti-PC crowd as time goes on. Now we're being told that we only make up 2-1%? The actual range seems to be 1.2-6.8%. One must also take into consideration that many LGB people are not open about their sexuality and would, thus, be invisible and counted among the seemingly heterosexual masses in these statistics. In the end, the insidious message that is seemingly being conveyed through this misinformation is that "the LGB make up such a small portion of the population that they ultimately don't matter. We need not be burdened with consideration for their needs or rights as citizens."

Ffinally, and most damning in my opinion, you raise the spectre of homosexual pederasts/pedophiles as a scare tactic. You seem to be pandering the idea that the only (or main) reason why homosexuals would be interested in LGB children is for abuse and molestation. This, of course, is nonsense. It is especially unpalatable that you would try to conjure the old fear and prejudice that homosexuals are perpetually lurking in the shadows, salivating for the opportunity to violate and corrupt humanity's vulnerable youngsters. This was the type of prejudicual fearmongering that was pushed in old propaganda films from the mid 20th century, such as the infamous "Boys Beware." This was the same type of propaganda that pushed the disgusting idea that homosexuals must "recruit" children in order to replenish our numbers. I, as an adult homosexual, naturally feel protective over LGB children and have a strong desire to provide for them any kind of relief or protection that I may, in hopes that they may avoid my own sad fate and are not subjected to my own unfortunate circumstances growing up. It would sadden me profoundly if an adult were to harbor suspicions that my intentions were less than honorable when it comes to my care and concern for LGB children. I want to protect them from all predators, as well. But I believe that it is dishonorable, disrespectful, and unworthy of you to insinuate that homosexual pedophiles are a more prevalent concern than heterosexual pedophiles.

I must say that it has always struck me as being so sardonically humorous that so many of our detractors seem to engage in the very activities that we have been accused of. Specifically, those of recruitment and indoctrination. A person either is or isn't homosexual. Ergo, we cannot recruit. Religious people however must recruit in order to ensure their religion's continued existence. Likewise, they must also indoctrinate (perferably at a young age) in order to ensure that their beliefs are safely instilled within their recruits and that they will be followed accordingly. As has been humorously written before by another, you don't see homosexuals knocking on doors holding pamphlets, asking if you've heard the 'Good Word' of our Lord and Saviour, Elton John.

If I have misunderstood you in anyway then I apologize. You seem to have a strong stance against political correctness. I believe that anything can be taken too far, PC being no different. However, in this regard, you seem to be tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

And, bluntly stated, you seem to possess a decidedly negative and sadly misinformed opinion regarding homosexuality and homosexuals.