International Human Rights Law ♦ Note 65 Va. J. Int’l L. 159 (2024)

Nailing Down the Issue: How Japan’s 2023 Symbolic Reforms Fall Short and How the Japanese Government Can and Should Protect the LGBT Community Through Proactive Lawmaking

CARA SZELES

2023 appeared to be a historic year for LGBT rights in Japan. The Japanese legislature passed its first law acknowledging the need for understanding of the LGBT community, and the Supreme Court issued two rulings in favor of transgender plaintiffs’ rights. However, upon a closer look, all of this supposed progress is purely symbolic. The underlying legal issues remain: there is no anti-discrimination law aimed at protecting the LGBT community, same-sex marriage is not recognized, and transgender people must undergo surgery in order to legally transition. Further, in the absence of anti-discrimination law, de facto discrimination persists throughout all aspects of Japanese society. Japan can and should ensure the rights of its LGBT population by broadening the fundamental rights guaranteed within its Constitution and by enacting specific anti-discrimination legislation. This Note looks to current Japanese law and legal scholars’ work to provide suggestions for how Japan can finally codify such progress for its LGBT population.