TOKYO — Three residents of the capital’s Suginami Ward including a transgender individual have filed petitions with the Tokyo Legal Affairs Bureau and Tokyo Bar Association reporting a human rights violation and seeking rights relief, after a local assemblyman published a cartoon discriminating against transgender people in an election bulletin.
The petitions were filed on Feb. 13 by Suginami Ward residents Shimpei Suzuki, 45, who is transgender, and fellow residents Masanori Kin, 69, and Kayoko Ikeda.
According to the petitions and other documents, in the April 2023 ward assembly elections, Suginami Ward Assembly member Yutaro Tanaka, 48, included the illustration in an election bulletin along with the words, “Don’t let men into women’s spaces! Protect women’s rights by revising or abolishing the ‘gender identity ordinance.'” The illustration depicted a person with a rainbow tattoo, extended nose hair and stubble saying, “So if I insist I’m a woman, I can enter the women’s bath too!”
In March the same year, an ordinance prohibiting discriminatory treatment on the basis of sex was enacted in Suginami Ward. It is believed the “gender identity ordinance” mentioned with the cartoon was referring to this. Tanaka is said to have opposed the ordinance on the grounds that if it were accepted, then “men would be able to enter women’s baths.”
Regarding the management of public baths, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has expressed the opinion that the distinction between men and women does not refer to self-identified gender, but to sex as determined by physical characteristics. The residents who filed the petitions pointed out that it was a factual error to say men would enter women’s baths.
During a news conference, Suzuki stated, “What if I had seen that (problematic illustration) when I was a high school student just starting to think about my gender? We need to speak up to protect today’s children.” Ikeda, meanwhile, commented, “In sexual terms, I’m in the majority, but discrimination is a problem on the side of the majority. I don’t endorse living in a society where there is discrimination, and I take it very seriously that that ugly illustration appeared in an election bulletin.”
When approached by the Mainichi Shimbun, Tanaka said he had not seen the petitions and couldn’t comment them.
(Japanese original by Miyuki Fujisawa, Lifestyle, Science & Environment News Department)
