JAPAN: Fumio Kishida, the Japanese Prime Minister, fired one of his aides on Saturday on grounds of making anti-LGBTQ+ comments, mentioning that those remarks were “outrageous and completely incompatible with the administration’s policies.”
The economy and trade official, Masayoshi Arai, who had joined Kishida’s administration last fall, said that people in Japan would be bound to leave the country if same-sex marriage was allowed, stressing the fact that he would not want to live next door to an LGBTQ+ couple. Arai later apologised for those comments, saying they were “misleading.”
Arai was dismissed on grounds of his comments made in the parliament where he highlighted the fact that thorough consideration was necessary to allow same-sex marriages as it could potentially ruin family structure.
Kishida remarked on Saturday, which was aired on a public broadcaster, “His comments are outrageous and completely incompatible with the administration’s policies.”
The firing follows as Japan prepares to meet the US and other allies for the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in May. Japan is the only country among the G-7 countries that does not legally recognise same-sex marriage.
In accordance with recent opinion polls, a series of scandal-tainted resignations by senior officials has halved Kishida’s public support to approximately 30% since 2022.
A few important officials stepped down, including an internal affairs and communications vice minister, Mio Sugita, who quit following an anti-LGBTQ+ comment, and Japan’s indigenous Ainu people.
A survey published in 2021 revealed two months before Kishida became Prime Minister that 57% of 1,508 people supported the legal recognition of same-sex couples.
Same-sex couples are unable to inherit each other’s assets because they are not allowed to marry and are also deprived of parental rights to each other’s children.
In November, a Tokyo court imposed a ban on same-sex marriage, citing that the lack of legal protection for LGBTQ+ couples was a violation of human rights.
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