Japan's top government spokesperson on Monday avoided commenting on a video by 15 diplomatic missions from mostly Western nations urging Tokyo to take concrete action toward protecting LGBT rights ahead of the Group of Seven summit starting later this week in Hiroshima. Matsuno, a member of the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party, had been asked about his opinion of the video released Friday, by lawmaker Michiyoshi Yunoki of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. While the LDP plans to submit to parliament a bill promoting understanding of the LGBT community before the G7 summit, it has altered expressions used in the original bill that the party had once agreed to with the opposition in 2021. It now states "unfair discrimination is unacceptable" instead of "discrimination is unacceptable." Yunoki slammed the revised bill as "regressive," saying that even if the legislation were passed, Japan would not win praise as this year's chair of the G7 summit.

Source: The Guardian May 16, 2023 03:45 UTC