Japan’s new prime minister could herald a ‘historic moment’ for LGBT+ rights

Japan is about to get a new prime minister – and two candidates in particular have the potential to transform LGBT+ rights, including same-sex marriage.

After the current Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga decided to step down a year into his term, his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is set to choose a successor on Wednesday (29 September).

The election is a “historic moment” for Japan – not just because two of the four candidates are women, but also because two candidates support same-sex marriage.

Alexander Dmitrenko is a co-founder and co-chair of Lawyers for LGBT & Allies Network (LLAN) and a counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Tokyo. He told PinkNews that the current “frontrunners” for the election are Fumio Kishida, former foreign minister, and Taro Kono, the cabinet minister in charge of vaccinations.

Kono’s was the first voice from within the LDP in support of same-sex marriage, Dmitrenko explained, and a “fairly important” one at that.

Even before the leadership race, Kono made headlines in Japan after he said: “I will support marriage equality.”

Sanae Takaichi and Seiko Noda are the first women in over a decade to seek leadership of the LDP. Noda has said that she supports same-sex marriage and in a recent campaign speech, she said that she wants to see more LGBT+ people “take centre stage” in society.