With a lack of overt anti-homosexual laws, a history of intergenerational male-male sex in areas of pre-modern society (Chalmers 2002; Ihara 1990 [1687]; Leupp 1995; McLelland 2004; Pflugfelder 1999; Hiratsuka 1983), and the GID Act (2003/2004), Japan as a nation is often perceived as being tolerant to sexual minorities. Furthermore, given the existence of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (1985, effective 1986) and the Basic Law for a Gender Equal Society (1999) the government has taken positive steps towards ensuring greater rights for women in general. However, despite these seemingly gender-positive statutes, Japan is
consistently ranked low in global gender equality rankings. It is 105th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for 2013 (World Economic Forum 2013: 10) and socioeconomic gaps between women and men continue at all levels. Possessing no laws to guarantee rights to same-sex partnerships, or equal access to the social safety nets afforded to most in registered marriages, there is growing concern for issues of social equity in the LGBT community. These concerns have increased in the face of expanding neoliberal policies at the national level, and in an ongoing crisis situation resulting from the triple earthquake/tsunami and nuclear crises of 11 March 2011 (known as ‘3/11’). In post-3/11 Japan, activism continues, on the one hand, lobbying for social equity and inclusion and, on the other hand, lobbying for equal partnership rights.
Lobby group Tokubetsu Haigusha-ho Zenkoku Nettowaku (known in English as ‘Partnership Law Japan’ 2011) is currently exploring the possibilities of introducing a special partnership law into the Japanese parliament. Article 24 of the Constitution of Japan (1946, effective 1947) refers to marriage unambiguously as being between the people of ‘both sexes’ (ryo-sei). There is no overt law prohibiting marriage between people of the same legal sex. As the stipulations within the GID Act prevent individuals currently married from legally changing their legal sex the current legal interpretation of marriage is that of a legal union being between a male and a female. That being said, marriage partners are often referred by the non-gender specific term ‘haigu-sha’ (spouse) and Partnership Law Japan hopes this may be grounds for lobbying for a ‘special partner’ category that includes same-sex relationships. The inability of same-sex partners to access social safety nets is something that has been highlighted in the late capitalist economic downturn from the 1990s to the present. The 24-hour crisis line run by the Association for Social Inclusion — Yorisoi hottorainu (literally ‘leaning on each other hotline’; in English ‘Helpline for Foreigners’) — is the first hotline to include ‘gender and sexuality support’ in its list of concerns. The ‘Kyosei Shakai o Tsukuru’ Sekushuaru Mainoriti Shien Zenkoku Nettowaku (National Sexual Minority Support Network for ‘Creating a Society of Co-existence’), a lobby group pushing for legal reforms to ensure greater social inclusion, is a close associate of this initiative and another example of contemporary queer women’s activism in Japan. Thus, while there are vibrant community venues for same-sex attracted women and other sexual minorities in contemporary Japan, members of these communities feel that there is still need for lobbying on pressing political issues, as outlined in this chapter.