TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A top aide to Japan’s prime minister has said that he would “not want to live next door” to an LGBT couple and would “hate to even see them.”
According to the Japan Times, Masayoshi Arai, an executive secretary to Kishida Fumio, quickly retracted the comments and apologized. However, before his apology the aide said he believes same-sex marriage would cause “quite a few people” to abandon Japan.
It seems the aide will be abandoned first though, as Kishida said on Saturday (Feb. 4) that he had no choice but to fire him over the discriminatory remarks.
Kishida has approached the issue of same-sex marriage hesitantly in the past. “We need to be extremely careful in considering the matter as it could affect the structure of family life in Japan,” he said to the Japanese parliament in January.
In November 2022 Reuters reported that a Tokyo court upheld Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage, but that the lack of legal protections for same-sex couples violated their human rights. Same-sex couples in Japan cannot inherit each other’s assets and have no parental rights over each other’s children.
Japan is the only G7 country that does not allow same-sex civil partnerships. However, it is not unusual in Asia, with Taiwan being the only country in the region to legalize same-sex marriage.
Senior aide to the prime minister Masayoshi Arai, left, walks next to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Prime Minister's official residence in Tokyo, Dec. 12, 2022. (AP photo)
