LGBT community hopes election spurs gay rights debate, legislation

Transgendered people can change their sex on their family registries in Japan but to do so they must jump through multiple hoops including invasive gender reassignment surgery.

Makes total sense. There is nothing wrong with that except that people are allowed to change their sex on their family registry.

The LGBT community and their allies hope the upcoming upper house election will help advance the national discussion on LGBT rights in Japan and lead to legal recognition.

I dont know who, or how the article was decided upon to be written, however, this election is for the upper house. These types of issues would be dealt with in the lower house.

I wonder if the author is aware of the difference?

This is, a minor issue in this election. It needs its own platform, but until more Japanese get on board, there is little effect it will have on the outcome.

For totally gay Gokai, "gay rights" just means "just let us live our lives". I'd like to mary my partner of 25 years (we met in junior high).

Katsuei Hirasawa, a Liberal Democratic Party politician, was forced to backtrack after facing fierce social media criticism for saying that "a country would collapse" if everyone became LGBT.

Technically, he's correct, but that's ridiculous comment to make.

no. you can be gay if you want to be but please don't expect society to change for you. you are only less than 15% of the population

@dango bong

The LGBT+ community wishing for the same equal rights as myself and my wife haven't changed our everyday married life. So why can't they enjoy the same rights and happiness as the rest of us? Especially when the changes that they want for themselves doesn't affect you or me negatively in any way.

@Kari

Because it will make Baby Jesus cry....

The LGBT+ community wishing for the same equal rights as myself and my wife haven't changed our everyday married life. So why can't they enjoy the same rights and happiness as the rest of us? Especially when the changes that they want for themselves doesn't affect you or me negatively in any way.

Doesn't make sense.

The LGBT+ community wishing for the same equal rights as myself and my wife haven't changed our everyday married life. So why can't they enjoy the same rights and happiness as the rest of us?

Because some people have a problem with people loving others who have the same genitalia. A book some people wrote about a supposed god tells them it's wrong.

I believe in equal rights for all. Doesn't matter who you love or how you look. You should be treated fairly and if a society allows certain rights, then no one from that society should be excluded.

The only thing I don't agree with is the part where I have to participate in helping you feel better about your self image. If you were born a man and would like to call yourself a woman or vice versa then you are free to do so. However, to force other people into calling you another gender because you feel and/or identify as such is not the correct thing to do. If we should respect your right to choose, then our right to call you what we identify you as should also be respected.

However, to force other people into calling you another gender because you feel and/or identify as such is not the correct thing to do. If we should respect your right to choose, then our right to call you what we identify you as should also be respected.

This.

I wonder how the world went from gayship during the Roman-era, Greek-era, Viking-era, and Nanshoku during the feudal-era of Japan. It's just christians among many others who claim that man to woman-sex is the only acceptable, this is historically inaccurate. Homosexuality has always existed!

There might be many in our own familty-tree who are or have been gay in the past. So we better treat them as equals! We all have som LGBT genes in us if we trace our DNA far enough back in time.

Strikebreaker555Today  05:53 pm JST

“I wonder how the world went from gayship during the Roman-era, Greek-era, Viking-era, and Nanshoku during the feudal-era of Japan. It's just christians among many others who claim that man to woman-sex is the only acceptable, this is historically inaccurate. Homosexuality has always existed”

Exactly (but my similar comment was deleted by this arbitrary mod)

"Rights" are very different from legal protection.

In most countries with rule of law, humans have the "right" not to be killed without due process.

"Due process" in legal proceedings is usually a "right." There are many behaviors that are not actually "rights", which different minority groups would have everyone believe as "rights."

Any "right" specially granted to 1 group is dangerous unless that group is "humans", since it may often be used against other groups. This is why the list of true, legally protected, "rights", must be small. Things that are just a really good idea, aren't rights, for a reason. Those are legal protections.

Lots of religious texts have negative suggestions for handling people who are different. Somehow many of those are ignored, except by a tiny subset of fundamental followers of the text.