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Still got a long way to go but the fact that at least same-sex partners can now start to apply for public housing like married couples, give them access to medical data and allow them to be beneficiaries in auto and life insurance

Its the little 'wins' that bring on an avalanche of change.

My question is if that paperwork is recognized outside of Tokyo. Because if they need to move they have to apply all the hell over again

<-- has gay friend in Japan who went through this in another city

That's how these things go all the time, eh? Smaller regions do it, society completely fails to collapse, and eventually every says "ah, sod it."

Fantastic

wonder how the weeaboos are gonna react to this one

Government Issued Yuri pamphlet when?

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Baby steps. It'll happen eventually.
The young generation already doesn't give a shit if people are gay.

Damn this is based. Generally Asian countries don’t do this right? Even South Korea

What makes you think they'd have a problem with it?

Did you really fall for the "weebs are secretly Republican because they say the N-word" bullshit?

what makes you think they won't? they already do on most anime related subreddits on here. and lol @ that quote. gave me a good laugh

I never see any comments in those subs that are negative to gay people.

There was a recent case here (Japan, but I don't recall the region) where it was voted unconstitutional to discriminate about housing for such couples, and a camp ground near Nagoya tried to define a couple as a man and a woman and was totally put through the ringer on social media and the news. They had to apologize and update their policy due to public pressure. I think we're getting there, both in and out of court.

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What do you mean

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Actually it was the westernization that brought homophobia to Japan, that’s beginning to reverse. Check your history.

?

Japan historically has been fine with the existence of gay people including several writings and depictions of same sex relations. The primary legal reason gay marriage isn't allowed is because of the constitution that the US wrote for them.

Gotta start somewhere

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Got a lot of old people to die off first

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Were same sex relationships somewhat common prior to opening up to trade and modernization?

The wills of people who believe in your creator are trying to overwrite the will of those who don't believe in your creator. Pretty sure America was based on avoiding that, what with the whole freedom of religion thingy

Hmm, Asian countries are taking steps to do thing despite the even tough conservative mindset there (makes the western conservatives very liberal for sure)…

Now next game is to kick the Middle East to have same sex laws as western nations

Clearly you don't, though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_Japan

Short Answer: Yes, of course. Feel free to read up on it.

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maybe we'll finally get some gay married couples in anime, haha :D

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Unfortunately, you’re right. Taiwan is the only Asian nation where marriage for same-sex couples is fully legal. Israel recognizes marriages done elsewhere but doesn’t perform them, and all other Asian countries lack legal protections for same-sex couples.

Sadly, the continent has more nations that execute people for being gay (Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Brunei) than they do countries that give equal rights.

sure, but there are some, like Taiwan, Israel, Cambodia, that have varying degrees of same-sex marriage recognition.

👀

is that what's that from? i have seen the n-word pop up frequently on a number of anime forums and i'm like...wtf? where did this come from and why are people doing it?

Never forget that god has a hard-on for mass murder

honestly i have seen plenty of instances of people looking for queer representation in anime being shot down/mocked/insulted/dismissed, so it definitely does happen.

I also don't get it. Most of these countries are atheistic. Japan, Korea, Russia, china, but are exceptionally homophobic. Where does the homophobia stem from if not Religion.

The only way that’s happening is mass secularization. Religion is why the Middle East is so hostile to LGBT people.

Well if they ask it like that then what the fuck would they expect? I'd mock that shit so fast...

There’s no evidence your god even exists, much less should be the basis of law. We don’t live in a theocracy, please keep your religion off everyone’s laws thanks.

but love hotels

I personally think, people hate/fear things that are different from the norm or different from what they're used to. If things aren't the way they know them or want them to be, they want to change them or get rid of them. Religion is often just used to justify hate.

-Japan isn’t that homophobic, and most of the anti-gay sentiment was imported from the West and China.

-China is heavily influenced by Confucian philosophy, which is deeply sexist and homophobic.

-Russia is heavily Orthodox Christian, and was also influenced by Marxism and Islam. Hardly atheistic.

-Korea is pretty heavily Christian and Confucian as well.

For as retrograde as their laws are, popular culture is fairly progressive (often too much).

ok, so you recognize that there are comments in those subs that are negative to gay people, lol.

So bizarre that in such advanced country something as basic as that took so long to get recognition.

No, we're talking about your claimed experience. Your anecdotal evidence.

I don't have any reason to trust your word and am not taking you seriously.

Same sex relationships are common everywhere, regardless of legality.

r/USdefaultism

Didn’t god give us free will? Like, he personally did that?

Isn’t it somewhat against “god’s will” to not allow free will? You’re trying to usurp god’s own demand that your fellow man have free will. Kinda shitty really

True true you got a point

I don’t believe your god—or any gods—exists. There’s no evidence to support any religion’s supernatural claims, so I see no reason to take such claims seriously.

I lack belief in your god for the same reason I lack belief in alien abductions, ghosts, and lizard people conspiracy theories.

Japan is a very unique situation becuase how their government is run. They can have prime ministers up to essentially 5 or 10 plus years as long as they have power.

I think as someone who’s visited Japan. Some Japanese people are fearful but it’s never a hateful fear for the most. I think it stems from the government mostly. Generally I’ve never had a bad experience in Tokyo or even the rural areas when I visited.

ok u/My_Balls_In_Your_Ass feel free to not take me seriously

mormons have started that here; the head of the ward and the dog ugly indian have been playing grab a$$ for years.

It has to start somewhere is their motto.

What do you mean by "even south korea"?

South Korea is very conservative, much more so than Japan these days.

Taiwan is the most liberal and democratic country in Asia and they fully support it. Japan going next, SK in 20 years and China never would be the normal way of things…

Yes and no.

But homosexual marriages werent a thing.

I won't, fully grown adult with an Adventure Time username.

A lot of K-pop videos make South Korea seem a lot more sexually liberal than they are.

being that we're talking about anime, i'd think you'd take animation a little more seriously.

Such a dork...

Your move United Arab Emirates

i am indeed. and i wasn't the one who said they weren't gonna take you seriously.

I'm happy to read this news

They started with pillows

wha

Racist anime fans are a big thing? I mean I have run into some like quantum tv, but I thought they were fringe minorities.

Okie dokie

They are a very vocal minority.

Tradition can play the exact same role in society as religion. As long as people blindly accept tradition without a critical eye, things will not change. Too often old people just think the way things were when they were young is the way it should always be.

Religion is not the root of such ways of thinking, it's a manifestation.

Baby steps! Let's go!

Interesting.

It’s funny how if someone criticizes the Middle East suddenly it’s Islamophobia, but if someone criticizes the same Middle East for misogyny , then it’s accepted.

It would seem that left can only approve what is accepted and what isn’t.

Until the certificates get national recognition in the same way as civil unions do elsewhere then major rights are still being missed. Family reunification, bringing in gay partners from overseas for example, is a major omission. Steps are too tiny.

Confucianism is not explicitly homophobic. gay or lesbian sex was accepted as long as you also marry the opposite sex and have kids. China was not traditionally homophobic when you look at its history. There were gay emperors like Emperor Ai of Han, Emperor Zhengde of Ming and Emperor Tianqi of Ming. Tianqi had a palace just for male lovers and another for female lovers. There were lots of records of court concubines coupling with each other. Homoerotic art and poetry was pretty common.

Gay sex was only criminalized for the first time in the 18th century due to Western influence, using a translation for the word "sodomy". Homophobic attitudes didn't become widespread until the 20th as China "modernized". It's a similar story as what happened in Japan. Before the Meiji period same-sex activity was pretty commonly accepted. Similar story in Korea, gay sex was never seen as scandalous in the old days.

But same-sex marriage was never proposed back then because back then love marriage was unheard of. People had arranged marriages for practical reasons, to benefit the family and pass on the family name. Things have changed though. Now many marriages between heterosexual couples don't result in children, which was exceedingly rare a hundred years ago.

Even in Muslim or Christian societies a prohibition against gay sex hasn't always been the norm. Some sections of the Bible or the Quran get emphasized at certain periods of history but other times they are just seen as irrelevant.

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Violence is all you have, because you have no argument. Your religion is based on lies, errors, hatred, and fear, and your god is about as real as the Tooth Fairy. You hate me because I’m LGBT but you don’t even understand what that is. You just blindly believe the propaganda from your pastor or imam.

Unlike you, I wont be tossing any stones. I don’t hate you, because I don’t have a dangerous cult telling me who to hate. As a non-binary heathen with a deep distaste for organized religion: I hope you have a wonderful evening, a great week, and that life treats you kindly and brings you happiness. :)

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This is still a form of homophobia—to be forced into a relationship with someone to whom you’re not attracted just to meet some arbitrary social norm. Love among gay and lesbian people is not primarily about sex, but attachment and mutual understanding. Ancient society tolerating a few very powerful ancient leaders’ practice of “”loving”” concubines (who typically were not there by consent) does not equate to gay acceptance. Not even close.

This is not to mention that the traditional concept of marriage in China (and, to be fair, many other places worldwide) was more like a slave contract than a relationship. As you mentioned, marriages were arranged based on superstition and social position, rather than chosen based on love. And the woman was seen as an object being purchased, a domestic servant / baby incubator sold from one man (her father / family head) to another (her husband).

So yes, I 100% stand by my comments that Confucianism is sexist and homophobic.

Yeah you said it was to please the USA by “going against traditions” which isn’t that correct.

Indeed, weebs are unfortunately a very toxic and conservative community in my experience

Are you asking me why slave owners forced Christianity on slaves? If that's your questions, how is that possibly showing religion to be a good thing in this context? I might just be misunderstanding the question. And I disapprove of it being on the court walls, it snubs the separation of religion and government. My own beliefs are built on what I see of the world and what I learn from trusted resources, and I am willing to alter my view in light of new information, and do not cling unchangingly to disproven and morally inconsistent religious texts. Without religion there'd be oodles less violence and subjugation in the world. Some still, yes, but oodles less.

Japan has love hotels, which are basically hotels you rent for a few hours to do dirty stuff. They have a tendency to ban gay couples but are fine with straight couples and even groups of people partying in them.

Not even remotely true.

This gay man shoots back fyi

I don’t believe in your creator so you’ll just have to sit there and deal with it when I defy him

One would say that it "took them long enough".

but I like to say: "those who wait for something good, never have to wait too long"

Honestly coming from the country that had go ernment officials saying "there are no gay people in Japan" not too long ago its a big step.

Congrats to all the campaigners!

China is not really homophobic and there are gay and trans celebrities who are celebrated. It’s more that the family value emphasis on you having children because traditionally the family takes care of the elderly.

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Yes, I’d like to solve.

Government?

ding ding ding!

Hopefully it spreads from Tokyo to other cities... Osaka next?

So the gays moved to Japan recently, eh? You think they'll get into Iran eventually too?

japan finally recognizes trap potential

I went to school with a girl who had traveled to Japan for a program she was in. She said they would get to interview people with this list of standard stuff in Japanese and they’d ask stuff in English to help learn the language, and at the end they got to ask a couple of questions that weren’t on the list just for more fun and practice. She learned how to ask “do you know anyone who is openly gay?” And she said that most people she asked just said no but a few people would burst out laughing and tell her “there are no gay people in Japan”.

That was in like 2006-2007ish. It seems like it was such a long time ago (especially for me now, looking back on the high school days hah). But as far as social and political changes go, it isn’t nearly as long ago as it feels.

"It's funny how if I criticize my neighbour for the colour of his skin suddenly it's racism, but I criticize him for dumping waste down our storm drain, then it's accepted"

Galaxy brain take you have there my dude

i think its a little true atleast in my experience as a young gay person, people care so little sometimes that it makes me cry from joy. but also theres definitely still some homophobia especially in men for some reason but otherwise noone cares if u wanna kiss ur own gender aslong as its not them yknow yknow

that's why one of the guy has to dress up as a woman, trust me I've read it in a documentary

LETS GOOOOO

Alternatively, they could pair up with another gay couple of the opposite gender, get the room, and then switch back.

They don't make it their personality trait, like in the west, but they do care

Sounds good

Indeed, looks the like the truth upsets people

Homophobia (not even casual but straight kinda disdain or fear) was weirdly common in Japan last time i was over there, and i talked to some people about it... its even in the young ones, too. was weird to see because here they absolutely don't care as much.