Japan enacts watered-down LGBT understanding law

Japan enacted a law on Friday meant to promote understanding of the LGBT community that critics say provides no human rights guarantees, though some conservative lawmakers said the measure is too permissive.

Japan, the only Group of Seven (G7) nation that does not have legal protection for same-sex unions, had originally pledged to pass the law before hosting a G7 summit last month.

However, wrangling over the bill meant it was only submitted to parliament for consideration on 18 May, the day before the summit began.

The initial draft stipulated that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity should "not be tolerated" but was changed to "there should be no unfair discrimination", which critics say may tacitly encourage some forms of discrimination.

Despite the bill being watered down, some members of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party still broke ranks with party directives, boycotting or walking out of Tuesday's vote in the lower house and the final vote in the upper house.

"There have been crimes committed by impersonators in women's restrooms," former upper house president Akiko Santo told reporters after boycotting the vote in that chamber. "It would be a very serious problem if this bill passed and the trend became that it was normal to accept anything."

Japan has come under pressure from other G7 nations, especially the United States, to allow same-sex marriage.

Business leaders say they fear Japan will not be able to remain internationally competitive without greater diversity, including representation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - especially as Tokyo seeks to promote itself as a global financial centre.

"As a financial institution, in order to achieve sustainable growth, it is essential to create an environment in which people with diverse backgrounds and values can play an active role," Masahiko Kato, chairperson of the Japan Bankers association and president of Mizuho Bank, told a press conference this week.

Japan's public broadly supports same-sex marriage, according to opinion polls, while local governments in most of the country allow same-sex partnership agreements that fall short of the rights guaranteed by marriage.

"Some 70% of the nation allows same-sex partnerships, and surveys have found more than 70% of people are in favour of same-sex marriage," the activist group Marriage for All Japan said in a tweet after the bill passed.

"Even business leaders are on our side. Now, parliament and the government must move."

Kishida in February sacked an aide who had sparked outrage by saying people would flee Japan if same-sex marriage was allowed and that he did not want to live next to LGBT couples.

The premier, however, has remained noncommittal on same-sex marriage, saying circumstances in each nation are different and discussion had to proceed "carefully".

In five court cases on same-sex marriage over the last two years, four courts ruled either that not allowing it was unconstitutional or nearly so. One said not allowing it was in line with the constitution.