Status: 07/21/2021 4:15 a.m.
“Unity in diversity” is the motto of these Olympic Games – but this is hardly lived in Japan. What about the rights of queer people in Olympia country.
Julia Linn, ARD Studio Tokyo
The Olympic organizers are committed to respect and diversity. Host Japan doesn’t seem to be taking it all that seriously yet. Those who don’t fit into the scheme here often experience discrimination. The LGBTQ community in the country had hoped the Olympics would change that. But your hope will be disappointed.
It wasn’t until June that a law that was supposed to secure the basic rights of queer people failed. The wind status within the conservative ruling party was due to only one sentence: “The discrimination against LGBTQ people is unacceptable.” MEPs caused horror during the debate: The concerns of homosexual and transgender people are “foolish”, their existence “against the preservation of the species of the Japanese people”.
In an international comparison of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Japan ranks next to last among the 40 wealthiest nations in terms of queer rights. Japan is also the only G7 country that does not allow same-sex marriages.
Only individual cities have introduced so-called partnership certificates. In March, a court in Sapporo called the ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional – so far, no concrete consequences have been drawn, the case is going through the various courts.
Expressing and demanding what is taken for granted: In September 2020, representatives of LGBTQ groups will demonstrate for equality in Sapporo.
Image: AP
The committee is setting an example
After the failure of the LGBTQ law, the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) apparently wanted to show that Japan’s sports world was open to diversity. A month before the start of the Olympic Games, a new board was elected – for the first time with 40 percent women and a trans man.
Fumino Sugiyama is a well-known transgender activist in Japan, and used to be a member of the women’s national team in fencing. The fact that the LGBTQ law was not passed shortly before the Olympic Games disappointed him as a JOC board member – “it showed how strong discrimination and deeply rooted prejudice are,” he said.
He knows from his own experience that the Japanese sports scene is progressing slowly, but that there is still a lack of understanding, says Sugiyama. Several athletes came out at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He believes that this could also happen at these games in Japan is unrealistic: homosexual athletes are still often discriminated against as “sick”. As a member of the JOC’s board of directors, the 39-year-old sees himself as responsible: “Instead of waiting for society to change so that the world of sport can follow suit, the world of sport must become a role model for everyone,” he says.
Demonstrative visit – Seiko Hashimoto, Head of Organization of the Olympic Games, visits the “Pride” house in Tokyo.
Image: AP
The first coming out
Shiho Shimoyamada is a pioneer of the LGBTQ community in the country. She was the first active professional athlete in Japan to break the taboo and publicly say that she loves women. The footballer did not find the courage to do so in her home country, but as a player at SV Meppen. “When I saw that LGBTQ people don’t have to hide here, that’s what I wanted too. In Japan, I always had to tell lies,” said Shimoyamada.
She too had hoped that the Olympic Games would promote equality in her country. Sport in particular is ideally suited for this, because: “On the field, it doesn’t matter who or what you are.”
Discussion about the first trans athlete
The case of Laurel Hubbard shows that it does play a role in the world of sports. The weightlifter will be the first trans woman to compete in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, in the super heavyweight division. She had her gender changed nine years ago.
Critics say that Hubbard’s participation in the Olympics is not fair, because her anatomy gives her performance advantages. Other voices, including representatives of the International Olympic Committee, hold against: Hubbard’s gender adjustment has been lagging behind long enough and her testosterone levels are regularly checked so that it does not exceed threshold values.
Even if Hubbard’s participation in Tokyo is already an important sign for many transgender people – this discussion and the experiences of discrimination that Japanese athletes are exposed to show that the way to “unity in diversity” is still a long one.