Japanese activists press for LGBTQ equality law as part of Tokyo Olympic legacy

Japanese LGBTQ activists met at the parliament on Tuesday to call upon the government to enact an LGBTQ equality law as part of the legacy of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The meeting came on the same day that Tokyo 2020 presdient was to visit Pride House, the first permanent LGBTQ center in Tokyo and the first of its kind to be official recognised by the Olympics movement.

Japan has slowly shown awareness of sexual diversity but it is often superficial. Pressure from conformity still forces many LGBTQ people to hide their sexual identity even from their families, and often face open and wrongful accusations such as causing low birthrates.

Same-sex marriage is not legally allowed, and transgender people are required to remove their reproductive organs in order to get their sex change reflected in family registration _ a requirement that international medical experts and human rights groups criticize as inhumane.

"I think the time is right now. If we can somehow eliminate discrimination in the Diet, we would like to move flexibly and boldly so that we can also achieve marriage equality," said Yukio Edano, Leader of Constitutional Democratic Party.

The Tokyo organising committee has also come under fire this year for sexist comments. In February, the president of the organizing committee Yoshiro Mori was forced to resign after making sexist comments, saying women talk too much in meetings. Tokyo Olympics creative director Hiroshi Sasaki also resigned in March after making demeaning comments about a well-known female celebrity. It was yet another setback for the postponed games and another involving comments about women.

Former Olympic athlete Seiko Hashimoto became president of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee after Mori stepped down and has pushed a strong message for diversity and gender equality within the games and her organisation. Pride week runs in Japan from April 24th to May 5th.