https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
A reader from Japan has encouraging news for those of us continuing to fight hate crime and socio-cultural hostility worldwide, not to mention hate crime and aggressive legal/political opposition in some countries; while we in the western world are not immune to either, - especially in areas where certain immigrant groups express strong opposition from a one cultural perspective or another
Japan's culture and major religions do not have a history of hostility towards homosexuality. A majority of Japanese citizens are reportedly in favour of accepting homosexuality; a 2013 poll indicated that 54 percent agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, while 36 percent disagreed, with a large age gap.
Apparently, Japan has no laws against homosexual activity and has some legal protections for gay people; there is also some legal protection for transgender individuals. Consensual sex between adults of the same sex is legal, but some prefectures set the age of consent for same-sex sexual activity higher than for opposite-sex sexual activity.
While civil rights laws do not extend to protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation, some governments have enacted such laws. The government of Tokyo has passed laws that ban discrimination in employment based on sexual identity. Despite recommendations from the Council for Human Rights Promotion, the major political parties express little public support for LGBT rights. Some political figures, however, have spoken publicly about their being gay. Kanako Otsuji, an assemblywoman from Osaka, came out as a lesbian in 2005. Two years earlier, in 2003, Aya Kamikawa became the first openly transgender person elected official in Tokyo.
While same-sex marriage is not legalised at the national level, the Shibuya District in Tokyo passed a same-sex partnership certificate bill in 2015 to "issue certificates to same-sex couples that recognize them as partners equivalent to those married under the law."
GAY IN JAPAN or RAINBOWS OVER TOKYO
A reader from Japan has encouraging news for those of us continuing to fight hate crime and socio-cultural hostility worldwide, not to mention hate crime and aggressive legal/political opposition in some countries; while we in the western world are not immune to either, - especially in areas where certain immigrant groups express strong opposition from a one cultural perspective or another
Japan's culture and major religions do not have a history of hostility towards homosexuality. A majority of Japanese citizens are reportedly in favour of accepting homosexuality; a 2013 poll indicated that 54 percent agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, while 36 percent disagreed, with a large age gap.
Apparently, Japan has no laws against homosexual activity and has some legal protections for gay people; there is also some legal protection for transgender individuals. Consensual sex between adults of the same sex is legal, but some prefectures set the age of consent for same-sex sexual activity higher than for opposite-sex sexual activity.
While civil rights laws do not extend to protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation, some governments have enacted such laws. The government of Tokyo has passed laws that ban discrimination in employment based on sexual identity. Despite recommendations from the Council for Human Rights Promotion, the major political parties express little public support for LGBT rights. Some political figures, however, have spoken publicly about their being gay. Kanako Otsuji, an assemblywoman from Osaka, came out as a lesbian in 2005. Two years earlier, in 2003, Aya Kamikawa became the first openly transgender person elected official in Tokyo.
While same-sex marriage is not legalised at the national level, the Shibuya District in Tokyo passed a same-sex partnership certificate bill in 2015 to "issue certificates to same-sex couples that recognize them as partners equivalent to those married under the law."
GAY IN JAPAN or RAINBOWS OVER TOKYO
Came LGBT, its first laurels to lay
(at Yanagi, Shimbashi, after the war)
respite from life’s cares of the day
Subsequently, it was good to be gay
(no one banging on some closet door);
came LGBT, its first laurels to lay
Colour, that dark skies kept at bay
(where the world’s tears gone before);
respite from life's cares of the day
LGBT rainbows were here to stay
(no world-imposing shame any more);
came LGBT, its first laurels to lay
Stage set for others to win the day
(wherever dogma’s worst sure to score)
respite from life’s cares of the day
Here, LGBT given the voice to say
“Pax” on any calls for its guts and gore;
came LGBT, its first laurels to lay,
respite from life’s cares of the day
Copyright R. N. Taber 2019
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