Legal rights for queer people in Japan: How the LGBT Understanding Promotion Bill was shelved in 2021

Abstract: The fight for equal rights for LGBTQ+ people in Japan has in recent years led to efforts to enact a law to promote understanding. After intense debates and revisions in the spring of 2021, the bill was shelved just before the Olympics, despite pressure from national and international organizations such as the International Olympic Committee. In 2023 a revised and potentially ineffectual bill was passed. This thesis aims to analyze the main arguments for and against the bill during the 2021 revision. This is done through critical discourse analysis and Fairclough’s three-dimensional model. The analysis is conducted from the perspective of human rights and gender studies. Articles from two major Japanese newspapers, texts from the homepage of the ruling political party, and tweets by a key LGBTQ+ lobby group are examined. The results show that arguments belong roughly to three groups, 1) arguments for and against the general idea of protection for LGBTQ+ people 2) arguments questioning the content of the bill, e.g., ambiguities in language, and 3) arguments concerning the political questions, such as not to pass this bill to not limit the chances of future more meaningful legislation. Many arguments highlight the patriarchal nature of Japanese society centered on the nuclear family. As the bill has recently been passed, its effect is yet to be seen, but it is probable that the only major impact is to stall future proper anti-discrimination legislation.