Japan Airlines "will abolish expressions that based on (two types of) sex and use gender-friendly expression" instead, a spokesperson told AFPJapan Airlines is ditching the phrase "ladies and gentlemen" and instead embracing gender neutral terms during in-flight and airport announcements from next month, the company said Monday. In Japanese, the expression generally used for such announcements is already gender-neutral, but the decision applies to other languages used by the airline. Same-sex marriage is not legally recognised in Japan but the government has gradually expanded rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens in recent years. While Japan is relatively tolerant of homosexuality, there are no specific legal protections for gay people. They argue that they are being denied rights accorded to heterosexual couples and hope courts will declare the government's position unconstitutional.

Source: Standard Digital September 28, 2020 07:07 UTC