This survey was conducted by the research group led by Professor Kazuya Kawaguchi from Hiroshima Shudo University. In 2015, they did the first survey on awareness of sexual and gender minorities. They took a random sample nationwide from people ranging from 20-79 years old. There were 1,259 valid responses in the first survey. They conducted a similar survey in 2019 with 2,632 valid responses. Using these two surveys, they were able to compare results. It was clear that the number of people who held resentment against sexual and gender minorities have decreased from the last poll. The proportion of those who answered that they would be opposed to having a close friend being LGBT went down from 1/2 to 1/3 of the sample. Focusing on the age groups, they identified that the percentage decreased from adults aged 40-50 years old.
When asked what they would do if someone they know is LGBT, many answered that they would find it unpleasant if they found out that their neighbour, colleague, sibling, or child, etc. were LGBT. Although the percentage went down from 2015, the people who answered "unpleasant" in 2019 were still more than half of respondents. (There were more men than women who chose this answer.)
The same results were seen from the question, "What would you do if you know someone who changed their gender?" About half of the people answered that they would find it unpleasant to know if their sibling or child, etc. were transgender.
Dr. Saori Kamano from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research speculates that people are answering this way not because it's bad or they want it to stop, but it's more about how they don't know how to deal with it. She points out that it's not just holding feelings of rejection, but also about having worries and concerns regarding the topic.
"As parents, they are dealing with a lot of things if their child is LGBT, like figuring out what the best thing is to do and worrying about what life looks like for their child. We think this can lead to making bad decisions for their child. Even though family ties aren't easily broken, relationships can become more strained because of this," she said.
For the question of same-sex marriage, 64.8% answered "agree" and "somewhat agree." The percentage increased by 13.6% since the 2015 poll. The percentage from adults aged 20-30 years old who answered "yes" rose to 81%; for ages 40-50, it went up to 74%, and for ages 60-70, it increased to 47.2%. Compared to the 2015 poll, the recent poll showed that adults aged 40-50 had the most increase in percentage by 19%.
Furthermore, 87.7% of the people answered "yes" to creating laws and regulations against bullying and discrimination against the LGBT community. 69.9% answered "yes" to having a foster child system and having the ability to adopt children. More than half of these people agreed that LGBT history and issues should be compulsory in the education system. Additionally, the percentage of people who chose "no answer" for most of the questions seemed to have decreased in the recent poll. Related to this, Mr. Daiki Hiramori, who is a member of the survey group, observed that there is a possibility that people who couldn't answer because they either don't know what is being asked, why they're being asked about this, or they haven't thought about this before, have decreased compared to the last poll.
Moreover, Dr. Kamano talked about how there is an increasing trend of people that have a more positive view on LGBT community compared to the last poll. "I have the impression that it was not only about having one LGBT policy being supported the most, but that the general awareness and sentiment of the population have changed as well. I believe the awareness shown through answering the survey from one part of a social environment where the LGBT community also resides in represents that it has already improved."
Sources of the survey's results:
Saori Kamano, Hitoshi Ishida, Takashi Kazama, Takashi Yoshinaka, Kazuya Kawaguchi
2020, "Awareness on sexual and gender minorities: 2019 Poll (2nd poll) National Survey Debriefing Distributed Document," JSPS Research Grant (18H03652), "Research on the Change in Awareness of Sexual Minorities and Related Policies," Lead Researcher Dr. Kazuya Kawaguchi, Hiroshima Shudo University
In 2015, Shibuya ward enacted an ordinance to include same-sex partnerships. Corporate policies for LGBT workers also improved. This is the turning point for better treatment of the LGBT community. Based on the recent poll's results, the general knowledge of sexual and gender minorities have improved after 4 years since that last poll in 2015.
Even though the families of LGBT folks might still hold resentment against them, Japan still has higher numbers of people agreeing to guaranteeing LGBT rights compared to other countries. 64.8% agree to same-sex marriage; 87.7% agree to banning discrimination against the LGBT community, and 69.9% agree to adoption.
Society has already adjusted to accepting equal LGBT rights and same-sex marriage. This has become common knowledge. The rest depends on the National Diet.
Reference:
Same-sex marriage: 80% of the adults aged 20-30 agree. National Survey: Japanese aged 40-50 have shown decrease in answering their reluctance in accepting their friend if they were LGBT.
https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/story_jp_5fc23a1ac5b61d04bfaa0456
Source: https://www.outjapan.co.jp/lgbtcolumn_news/news/2020/12/1.html
When asked what they would do if someone they know is LGBT, many answered that they would find it unpleasant if they found out that their neighbour, colleague, sibling, or child, etc. were LGBT. Although the percentage went down from 2015, the people who answered "unpleasant" in 2019 were still more than half of respondents. (There were more men than women who chose this answer.)
The same results were seen from the question, "What would you do if you know someone who changed their gender?" About half of the people answered that they would find it unpleasant to know if their sibling or child, etc. were transgender.
Dr. Saori Kamano from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research speculates that people are answering this way not because it's bad or they want it to stop, but it's more about how they don't know how to deal with it. She points out that it's not just holding feelings of rejection, but also about having worries and concerns regarding the topic.
"As parents, they are dealing with a lot of things if their child is LGBT, like figuring out what the best thing is to do and worrying about what life looks like for their child. We think this can lead to making bad decisions for their child. Even though family ties aren't easily broken, relationships can become more strained because of this," she said.
For the question of same-sex marriage, 64.8% answered "agree" and "somewhat agree." The percentage increased by 13.6% since the 2015 poll. The percentage from adults aged 20-30 years old who answered "yes" rose to 81%; for ages 40-50, it went up to 74%, and for ages 60-70, it increased to 47.2%. Compared to the 2015 poll, the recent poll showed that adults aged 40-50 had the most increase in percentage by 19%.
Furthermore, 87.7% of the people answered "yes" to creating laws and regulations against bullying and discrimination against the LGBT community. 69.9% answered "yes" to having a foster child system and having the ability to adopt children. More than half of these people agreed that LGBT history and issues should be compulsory in the education system. Additionally, the percentage of people who chose "no answer" for most of the questions seemed to have decreased in the recent poll. Related to this, Mr. Daiki Hiramori, who is a member of the survey group, observed that there is a possibility that people who couldn't answer because they either don't know what is being asked, why they're being asked about this, or they haven't thought about this before, have decreased compared to the last poll.
Moreover, Dr. Kamano talked about how there is an increasing trend of people that have a more positive view on LGBT community compared to the last poll. "I have the impression that it was not only about having one LGBT policy being supported the most, but that the general awareness and sentiment of the population have changed as well. I believe the awareness shown through answering the survey from one part of a social environment where the LGBT community also resides in represents that it has already improved."
Sources of the survey's results:
Saori Kamano, Hitoshi Ishida, Takashi Kazama, Takashi Yoshinaka, Kazuya Kawaguchi
2020, "Awareness on sexual and gender minorities: 2019 Poll (2nd poll) National Survey Debriefing Distributed Document," JSPS Research Grant (18H03652), "Research on the Change in Awareness of Sexual Minorities and Related Policies," Lead Researcher Dr. Kazuya Kawaguchi, Hiroshima Shudo University
In 2015, Shibuya ward enacted an ordinance to include same-sex partnerships. Corporate policies for LGBT workers also improved. This is the turning point for better treatment of the LGBT community. Based on the recent poll's results, the general knowledge of sexual and gender minorities have improved after 4 years since that last poll in 2015.
Even though the families of LGBT folks might still hold resentment against them, Japan still has higher numbers of people agreeing to guaranteeing LGBT rights compared to other countries. 64.8% agree to same-sex marriage; 87.7% agree to banning discrimination against the LGBT community, and 69.9% agree to adoption.
Society has already adjusted to accepting equal LGBT rights and same-sex marriage. This has become common knowledge. The rest depends on the National Diet.
Reference:
Same-sex marriage: 80% of the adults aged 20-30 agree. National Survey: Japanese aged 40-50 have shown decrease in answering their reluctance in accepting their friend if they were LGBT.
https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/story_jp_5fc23a1ac5b61d04bfaa0456
Source: https://www.outjapan.co.jp/lgbtcolumn_news/news/2020/12/1.html
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