KYODO NEWS



 

Japan's top government spokesperson on Monday avoided commenting on a video by 15 diplomatic missions from mostly Western nations urging Tokyo to take concrete action toward protecting LGBT rights ahead of the Group of Seven summit starting later this week in Hiroshima.

While acknowledging he was aware of the video, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said he would "refrain from commenting" on the message from diplomats of the United States, Europe and Australia, among others, during a session of the lower house's audit committee.

But Matsuno said, "I believe there should be no unfair discrimination or prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity," and suggested he would closely follow lawmakers' move to introduce legislation for promoting understanding of the LGBT community ahead of the three-day G-7 summit that opens Friday.

Matsuno, a member of the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party, had been asked about his opinion of the video released Friday, by lawmaker Michiyoshi Yunoki of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan.

While the LDP plans to submit to parliament a bill promoting understanding of the LGBT community before the G-7 summit, it has altered expressions used in the original bill that the party had once agreed to with the opposition in 2021.

It now states "unfair discrimination is unacceptable" instead of "discrimination is unacceptable."

Yunoki slammed the revised bill as "regressive," saying that even if the legislation were passed, Japan would not win praise as this year's chair of the G-7 summit.