Photo/Illutration The national headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Despite anger in the LGBT community over discriminatory remarks made by an aide to the prime minister, some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party remain hesitant about legislation to promote understanding of sexual minorities. 

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida fired Masayoshi Arai, an executive secretary, after remarks he made on Feb. 3, including not wanting to be a neighbor to sexual minorities.

Kishida ordered the LDP to begin debate on the bill to promote understanding of sexual minorities. However, failure to reach a consensus two years ago on a similar bill remains a lingering hurdle for the party.

Not only are opposition parties calling for an early vote on a bill to promote understanding, but even the LDP's junior coalition partner, Komeito, has come out in favor of passing the bill quickly.

In 2021, a multipartisan group of lawmakers compiled a proposal to promote understanding of sexual minorities. But a number of conservative LDP members raised objections that eventually sank the proposal.

In particular, some LDP lawmakers raised concerns about wording that said discrimination against sexual minorities would not be tolerated. Those lawmakers said that would open the door for a slew of lawsuits by those who felt they had been discriminated against.

Since then, there has been no discussion within the LDP about fashioning a proposal that all members could stand behind.

The wording about discrimination two years ago was a compromise by the LDP after opposition lawmakers demanded penalties for any form of discrimination.

But conservative LDP lawmakers argued that the inclusion of discrimination went well beyond the spirit of the legislation that was intended to simply promote understanding of sexual minorities.

But if LDP lawmakers can somehow remove the discrimination wording from the proposal, opposition lawmakers would feel betrayed because they had already agreed to that phrasing two years ago.

Opposition lawmakers are taking aim at the recalcitrant attitude of the LDP and criticizing the party and the Kishida administration for not living up to its pledge to seek a diversified society.

“This is an issue within the LDP," Jun Azumi, chair of the Diet Affairs Committee of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said on Feb. 8. "The prime minister must demonstrate leadership. The bill to promote understanding is just the entrance” to other measures to help sexual minorities.

The CDP has come out in support of legalizing same-sex marriages as well as allowing married couples to choose which surname they want to use.

Yosuke Takagi, the Komeito policy chief, also took a jab at the LDP and asked hypothetically who would be disadvantaged if the bill to promote understanding passed.

LDP officials realize they do not have the option of doing nothing, particularly with unified local elections scheduled for the spring. But one executive said it was unlikely that quick decisions would be made on the proposal.

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