A local politician of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party plans to make a formal apology and retract his remarks that disrespected the rights of sexual minorities, at a session of the Adachi Ward Assembly in Tokyo next week, the assembly's chairman said Monday.
Masateru Shiraishi, 78, who has faced public backlash for his claims last month that blamed sexual minorities for Japan's falling number of births, will make an about-face on his stance after the top assemblyman of Adachi Ward urged him to apologize and rescind his comments publicly.
"I sincerely apologize again to those who were hurt by Shiraishi's remarks with regard to LGBT," Akira Shikahama, the assembly's chairman who is also a member of the LDP, said in a statement posted online.
Shikahama said Shiraishi has offered to apologize and retract his remarks at an assembly session scheduled for Oct. 20.
Shiraishi, an 11-term assembly member, has come under fire for claiming at an assembly session on Sept. 25 that the ward would "cease to exist" if the rights of sexual minorities are protected by law.
The comments came amid more than 50 municipalities across the country including Tokyo's Shibuya Ward issuing "partnership certificates" to LGBT couples as same-sex marriage is not legally recognized in Japan.
Since then, Shiraishi has appeared on several TV shows and told reporters he did not intend to discriminate against sexual minorities, and that he would not apologize or retract his remarks.
As of Monday, an initiative calling for Shiraishi's resignation on the online petition platform Change.org had received over 2,500 signatures.
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