Japan Elects First Openly Gay Politician
Taiga Ishikawa made history today by being the first openly gay politician elected to public office in Japan. Ishikawa won a seat in the Tokyo Toshima Ward Assembly in a local election held last Sunday. Before entering politics, he worked as an activist and writer, and founded a gay networking organization called Peer Friends which helps connect isolated gay men throughout Japan.The young politician, who has received favorable comparisons to Harvey Milk, hopes that his victory will help gays and lesbians throughout the island nation:
The Gay Republican
“I hope my election victory will help our fellows nationwide to have hope for tomorrow, as many of them cannot accept themselves, feel lonely and isolated and even commit suicide…Many LGBTs, or sexual minorities, realise the fact when they are at elementary and junior high schools, many of which are operated by the municipality… As a ward assembly member, I would like to reinforce support to LGBT children at schools.”
Ishikawa also intends to create a system of domestic partnership for his ward:
Under the Toshima partnership ordinance he envisions, the ward would issue a certificate to two adults who register as “partners,” giving them the right to apply for ward-managed housing and hospital visitation rights. Ishikawa likes to compare the idea with the French PACS (a civil union of partners) system, which effectively gives unmarried gay cohabitants the same rights and tax advantages as married couples, but admits it may be difficult to achieve at the national level.
While Ishikawa is the first out politician to be elected to public office in Japan, other politicians have helped him blaze his trail. Aya Kamikawa, a transgender woman, was elected to Tokyo’s municipal assembly in 2003 and later ran for the national parliament. A few years later, Kanako Otsuji of the Osaka Prefectural Assembly came out as a lesbian during her term; she went on to be the first gay person considered as a viable candidate for a seat in the National Diet of Japan.