Japan should be ‘embarrassed’ after lesbian couple get refugee status in Canada, LGBTQ advocates say

“I hope this helps more and more people understand the reality that women and LGBTQ people face in Japan,” Akira Nishiyama, deputy secretary general of the Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation (J-ALL), told This Week in Asia. “The reality is prejudice, discrimination and no legal protections.”

The Asahi newspaper on May 18 quoted government officials in Ottawa as saying they had approved the couple’s refugee applications partly due to same-sex couples not being permitted to legally marry in Japan, not entitled to the same benefits as heterosexual couples and having a “fear of persecution” due to their sexuality.

Nishiyama, herself a lesbian, said she was aware of the problems the couple faced, which included real estate agents refusing to show LGBTQ people rental properties because “few houses are available for same-sex couples to rent.”

“Their case has made me keenly aware that Japan is a long way behind in terms of human rights protection and the struggles they have faced are those that many LGBTQ people face here every day,” she said. “But that should not be our daily reality.”

In its 2019 report Over the Rainbow? The Road to LGBTI Inclusion, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ranked Japan 34 out of 35 countries for legal LGBTQ inclusivity.

“It seems like Japan is pedalling a bicycle when other countries are riding sports cars when it comes to trying to promote gender equality,” Nishiyama told This Week in Asia.

J-ALL is campaigning for changes to existing legislation that would guarantee the legal rights of sexual minorities, including a law that would ban discrimination on the grounds of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and marriage equality.

A law to promote “understanding of