Japan Eyes Multilayered Approach to Promote LGBT Awareness

Tokyo, June 1 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government plans to promote public knowledge about gender and sexual diversity through a multilayered approach in its first basic program designed to promote understanding of LGBT people and other sexual minorities, a draft showed Monday. The government presented the draft program to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which approved it the same day. It plans to adopt the program at a cabinet meeting as early as this month. The draft program calls for raising awareness through schools, local communities, households and workplaces, noting that some sexual minorities “experience confusion, anxiety and difficulties in daily life due to insufficient public understanding.” It attributes the limited awareness to a lack of a sense of ownership, as many people do not regard sexual minorities as relevant to them. The draft program calls for promoting academic research, disseminating accurate information and strengthening consultation systems to address insufficient public awareness. The government will promote academic research, including medical and psychological studies, while regularly assessing public understanding of sexual minorities. It will also prepare leaflets and video materials explaining diversity and the law aimed at promoting public understanding of the diversity of sexual orientation. The draft program also says that measures should be tailored to the mental and physical development of young people, noting that sexual orientation may evolve over time. It calls for strengthening consultation systems, including the involvement of school counselors. The government also said it will publish reports on related policies once a year and review the basic program roughly every three years. The Act on the Promotion of Public Understanding of the Diversity of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, known as the LGBT understanding promotion law, was enacted in 2023. It requires the government to draw up a basic program and publish annual reports on related measures. The legislation was based on a draft bill compiled by a suprapartisan group of lawmakers but was modified following pushback from conservative LDP members and talks with some opposition parties. It took nearly three years to compile the draft program, apparently due to disagreements between supporters and opponents of the law’s objectives. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]