Japan: March of LGBT activists to demand a law for their rights

Japanese LGBT activists demonstrated in Tokyo in search of the Parliament to pass a law for their rights and against discrimination against the community.

The colorful demonstration took place this Sunday in front of the famous Shibuya crossing in the center of the Japanese capital, where the participants danced with their rainbow-colored masks, animated by the parade of drag-queens and DJs with live music.

For years the LGBT community in Japan has unsuccessfully demanded a law that protects them against all kinds of discrimination. It was only in 2015 that the proposal seemed to gain momentum when a group of lawyers began working seriously on it.

However, several members of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, currently in power, have already announced that they reject the initiative and one of its legislators has said that relations between people of the same sex threaten "the preservation of the species.

I was very disappointed, said a 20-year-old drag queen who identified herself as Okuni. People who still think of us that way control politics, he continued with concern.

The activists called on their supporters to demand that lawmakers put the project back on their agenda.

A few days ago it emerged that major corporations backed Japan's proposed Equality Law, which would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination. Among the companies that signed the LGBT Corporate Support Letter for #EqualityActJapan are Coca-Cola, Deloitte, EY Japan, Intel, Microsoft, PwC, Salesforce, PepsiCo, and SegaSammy.