Japan's parliament on Friday enacted legislation to promote understanding of sexual minorities after a period of intense debate between the ruling and opposition parties in the run-up to the closing of the regular Diet session next week.
The LGBT bill cleared the House of Councillors with the backing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito, as well as some opposition parties, following its passage through the House of Representatives earlier this week.
The legislation is aimed primarily at eliminating "unfair discrimination" of people based on their sexual orientation. Japan lags behind the other Group of Seven advanced countries in providing legal protections for sexual minorities.
As Japan had no law prohibiting discrimination against LGBT individuals, pressure mounted both at home and abroad for the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to act.
The bill describes public understanding of the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity as "not necessarily sufficient" in Japan, while requiring the government to craft guidelines for the practical implementation of the legislation.
One of the most controversial aspects of the bill is a clause stipulating, "All citizens can live with peace of mind," which has been heavily criticized for elevating the rights of the majority in society at the expense of sexual minorities.
Members of the LGBT community and their supporters claim the inclusion of the clause will make the legislation ineffective in combating the discrimination it is designed to address.
Same-sex marriage or civil unions are not legally recognized in Japan, but some courts have recently ruled the absence of that recognition is in a state of unconstitutionality.
Conservative LDP lawmakers, who hold and hope to maintain what they consider are traditional family values, had opposed the bill but took into account Kishida's desire to secure its passage during the current Diet session scheduled to end Wednesday.
Kishida's stance on sexual minorities has come under scrutiny since a former close aide told reporters in February that he would "not want to live next door" to an LGBT couple, adding he does "not even want to look at" LGBT people. The aide was swiftly sacked.
The LGBT bill was hammered out after the LDP and Komeito accepted several proposals from relatively conservative opposition parties and incorporated them into the original version, which had been initially mapped out by the ruling camp.
Nevertheless, the other opposition parties, including the main Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, voted against the bill despite supporting action to protect the LGBT community, arguing the definition of certain words within it would negatively affect the practicality of the legislation.
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021, cross-party lawmakers sought to pass the LGBT legislation, but the conservative wing of the LDP eventually hampered the submission of the bill to parliament.
The Olympic Charter says, "Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement."
After months of negotiations between ruling and opposition parties earlier this year, the revised version of the 2021 draft bill was introduced to the Diet on May 18, one day before the three-day G-7 summit kicked off in Kishida's constituency of Hiroshima.
A section of Article 24 of Japan's Constitution calls for enacting laws based on individual dignity and equality of the sexes.
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