Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 December 2 - 8 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

LDP local lawmakers’ homophobic remarks spark public criticisms

A series of discriminatory remarks against gays and lesbians by Liberal Democratic Party members in local assemblies have sparked strong criticism from the general public as well as LGBT activists.

Ebina City Assembly (Kanagawa Prefecture) member, Turusashi Masumi, on November 29 deleted his homophobic tweet from his Twitter account after meeting with angry reactions against him. In the tweet he said, “Homosexuality is abnormal. The media should not provide report justifying those people’s behavior.” Turusashi, who belongs to a parliamentary group affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party, got a verbal warning from the assembly chairperson, but refused to resign as an assembly member.

An Ebina City government official said to Akahata that the city received around 300 opinions from citizens and 90% of them are critical of Turusashi’s tweet.

In Tokyo, LDP member of the Nerima Ward Assembly Koizumi Junji at a plenary session of the assembly criticized Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward government for having introduced a system which provides partnership certificates to same-sex couples. He said that the system denies Japan’s traditional values which respect and celebrate marriages between men and women.

A Nerima Ward government official said that it has received a number of critical comments from residents.

A group of LGBT activists and their supporters, the Japan Alliance for Legislation to Remove Social Barriers based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, stated that it is totally unacceptable for those in public positions to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientations.