Days before the Group of Seven nations' summit opens in Hiroshima, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on May 16 approved a modified bill to promote understanding of LGBT people at a meeting of its general council.

The LDP had modified the original bill to address concerns voiced by more conservative-leaning lawmakers in the party.

The LDP’s junior coalition partner, Komeito, also approved the revised bill on May 16.

The bill will be submitted to the Diet this week as legislation proposed by lawmakers and not by the government. 

At the G-7 leaders' summit starting on May 19 in Hiroshima, protecting the rights of sexual minorities will be among the discussion topics.

By submitting the bill to the Diet ahead of the summit, the LDP aims to show that Japan, this year’s G-7 host, is committed to addressing LGBT issues.

The LDP has been calling on opposition parties to join in introducing the bill to the Diet.

A group of cross-party Diet members, including those from the LDP, drew up the original bill two years ago.

But the more conservative-minded LDP lawmakers, who place importance on traditional family values, opposed it.

To address their concerns, the LDP revised the original bill.

The original stated that, “Discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity is unacceptable.”

In the modified version, “discrimination” was replaced with “unreasonable discrimination.”

The original bill used the Japanese term “sei jinin” to refer to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The modified bill replaces it with the term “sei doitsusei.”

Literally translated, sei jinin means sexual self-recognition and sei doitsusei means sexual identity.

The LDP also deleted the clause “Effort by school operators” that detailed what schools should do to promote understanding of LGBT communities.

The modified bill integrated the clause with another clause explaining what business operators should do to promote understanding of LGBT issues.

Opposition parties Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People have shown understanding about the modified version. 

The LDP and Komeito aim to jointly submit the bill to the Diet and enact it by the end of the current Diet session.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, plans to submit a cross-party alternative bill to the Diet as a “counterproposal.”

What initially prompted the LDP to submit the modified bill to the Diet was a comment that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made in the Diet in February.

He said that legalizing same-sex marriages would fundamentally “change society.”

Two days later, his aide uttered discriminatory remarks about sexual minorities while talking to reporters in an attempt to address the controversy that Kishida’s comment caused.

Masayoshi Arai, Kishida’s executive secretary, said that he would not want to live next to gays and other sexual minorities.

Kishida fired him after furor erupted over the comment.

Amid further backlash, Kishida instructed LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi to prepare to submit the bill.

A senior official at the prime minister's office said, “The prime minister was concerned about the fact that his comment triggered (the backlash).”

The LDP faced further criticism as it prioritized the spring unified local elections and by-elections over passing the bill.

In March, Masakazu Tokura, head of the powerful Keidanren business lobby, criticized that the LDP “is discussing even whether it should submit the bill.”

In April, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in a speech that he is interested in how Japan will address LGBT issues as “a U.S. ambassador, and as a person.”

While some in the LDP were cautious about further discussing the bill, Kishida decided that he couldn’t wait anymore and made a direct move to urge the party to make progress on passing the bill.

Those close to Kishida including former Cabinet members also encouraged further discussions on the bill within the party as they thought, “It would be embarrassing at the G-7 summit for Japan if we cannot even start working on a bill to promote understanding of LGBT issues.”

That means that external pressure ahead of the G-7 summit forced the LDP to prioritize the bill.

A person holding one of the LDP’s three executive posts, meaning secretary-general, chair of the general council and chair of the policy research council, said, “Just submitting the bill to the Diet will make us look good in the eyes of the international community.”

However, that places what the modified bill seeks to enact as of secondary importance to the LDP.

On May 16, gay activists and their supporters held an event to protest the modified bill at a Lower House members’ office building in Tokyo.

They argued that the revised version marks “a significant retreat” from the original bill.

The event’s participants said that 52 organizations of gay activists and their supporters across Japan have backed their protest of the modified bill.

Tomoya Asanuma, a transgender, said, “It’s unforgivable that the LDP just tries to be seen as doing something about LGBT issues in the eyes of the international community, to escape criticism at the G-7 summit.”

A senior member of the LDP’s faction of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that the original bill “was watered down enough.”

The comment reflects how the LDP’s general council, the party’s highest decision-making body, unanimously approved the modified bill without dissent at its May 16 meeting.

(This article was written by Takuro Chiba, Kohei Morioka and Midori Iki.)