Monthly Archives June 2018

The Surviving Family of a Law School Student Has Reached a Settlement. Lawsuit against Hitotsubashi University Still Remains Unsettled.

2018:06:25 On June 25th, it was reported that the surviving family of a law school student who had committed a suicide after being outed by another student reached a settlement. (The date of the settlement is January 15th.) The law school student aged 25 (Mr. A) threw himself from the university’s building after being exposed as gay by another student(Mr.Z) to a group of 10 peers on messaging app called Line. Mr.A told Mr.Z that he had feelings for Mr.Z in April 2015. At that moment when Mr.A talked about his feelings for Mr.Z, Mr.Z responded “I can’t be your
Read More

Same-sex Partnership Certificates Under Consideration in Nagoya City

2018:06:22 On June 22nd, Nagoya city announced its plan to start issuing same-sex partnership certificates. Mayor Takashi Kawamura showed his positive attitude toward official recognition of same-sex partners in the city council this June. “We shouldn’t tolerate discrimination against same-sex partners. I have already made up my mind to start a same-sex partnership system,” the mayor said in response to the question asked by Councilor Asami Nishiyama regarding whether or not same- sex couples should be allowed to live together in city-owned apartments. According to Chunichi Shimbun, Nagoya city is to conduct a survey on public awareness of sexual minority
Read More

Nagasaki City to Recognize Same-sex Partnership

2018:06:13 On June 13th, Mayor Tomihisa Taue announced the city’s council is to give serious consideration of establishing a same-sex partnership system by the beginning of next April. Councilor Akiko Ikeda asked the mayor to establish a same-sex partnership system in the city and he agreed to it. “Such system is one of the effective ways for individual diversity to be respected. It also helps LGBTQ people live in the city with no barriers,” said the mayor. There are no local municipalities recognizing same-sex partnerships in Nagasaki Prefecture. The city is going to make an introduction plan of the same-
Read More

Support Group Submitted a Petition to 27 Local Municipalities That Asks For Recognition of Same-sex Partnerships.

A support group, consisting of LGBTQs and their allies who ask for recognition of same-sex partnerships, submitted a petition to 27 local municipalities. Those 27 local municipalities include 13 wards in Tokyo such as Shinjuku and Daito Wards and Hachioji City and Mitaka City in Tokyo, Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture, 7 cities in Saitama Prefecture and Abashiri City in Hokkaido. (Please look at the end of this article for more details.) The group prepared the petition early and submitted it to be in time for the upcoming councils that will be held in June. On June 4th, the support
Read More