On March 24th, The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) released Sourcing Code for all the businesses involved in 2020 Tokyo, which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sourcing Code is a rule for all the businesses involved in the process of production and distribution related to Tokyo 2020 Olympics. It clearly prohibits discrimination against LGBT people never tolerates discriminatory businesses and services. It says “throughout the production, distribution and other processes of produced products, etc., suppliers, etc. should respect the rights of social minorities such as ethnic, cultural and sexual minorities (including LGBTs) and immigrant workers, as fully as the rights of other people, and give due consideration to supporting these people to enjoy economic and social rights equal to the rights of other people, while taking into consideration the protection of privacy according to their characteristics.”

The prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was included to Sourcing Code for Tokyo 2020. After 2014 Sochi Olympics, the International Olympics Committee decided to ban any kind of discrimination including sexual minority.

One of the basic principles for Tokyo 2020 is “Unity in Diversity.” The principle includes diversity in race, gender, and sexual orientation (this is actually such a breakthrough for Japan). The prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is part of the basic principles.

J-ALL released a comment on this prohibition.
“This anti-discrimination principle is indeed a big step toward the abolition of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Japan. However, we cannot miss the fact that there are still a number of businesses and local municipalities that look the other way when it comes to this matter and that forces many people to live under the threat of human rights violation. We must not tolerate that. Therefore, we still need to keep taking actions for the establishment of anti-discrimination laws that protect us in every field.”

04/20/2017