First openly gay candidate wins in Tokyo ward
Taiga Ishikawa has become the first openly gay politician in Japan to win an election. In an interview with the Japan Times published last month, he says he hopes to enact a partnership ordinance that would allow unmarried couples regardless of gender to have equal rights as married couples.
Openly gay candidate Taiga Ishikawa won a seat in the Toshima Ward Assembly in Tokyo in Sunday's election, marking a historic first.
Taiga Ishikawa.
Before the 36-year-old writer and activist, no openly gay person had been elected to public office in Japan.
The Toshima race saw 53 candidates vie for 36 seats, according to the ward office.
"I hope this news will give a hope to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people who still feel isolated from the society," said Ishikawa. "I will do my best to make Toshima Ward more friendly to LGBT people, young people and foreigners."
Ishikawa, an advocate of LGBT rights and former secretary to Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima, published the book "Boku no Kareshi wa Doko ni Iru?" ("Where is My Boyfriend?") in 2002 under his real name. In 2004, he founded a nonprofit group that creates chances for LGBT people to make friends.
Source: Japan Times
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