“Sometimes students tell us they are afraid to come out at school … because then they face a lot of pressure to stand up in front of classmates and explain LGBT issues,” she said. At the same time, students began to circulate a photograph of Osamu wearing the “I’m gay” t-shirt on Twitter with hateful comments. I treat my child as a girl. I don’t know anything professionally, everything I know about LGBT people I know from my personal life and a handful of gay friends.”Mitsuru Taki, a senior researcher with the National Institute for Education Policy Research, explained that typical forms of Nearly everyone Human Rights Watch interviewed for this report said that they heard anti-LGBT rhetoric in school, including LGBT people called “disgusting,” the use of slur words such as “homo,” and declarations that “these creatures should never have been born.”“In school, gays were one of the good topics for bullying people,” said Daichi L., a gay man in Tokyo, recounting how a friend of his was frequently called gay by other students even though he was not. The survey was distributed on Facebook and Twitter.Of those who answered the survey, 458 were under 25, which is the sample this report uses to analyze the experiences of LGBT people who were recently in school. Takeshi O., a 19-year-old transgender man in Tokyo, said that when he approached a junior high school teacher for help with changing his school uniform and making other accommodations according to his gender identity, he felt safe “because [he] had already established a relationship with her and she liked [him].” The teacher met with other school officials and formed a committee to address attire, restroom use, and extracurricular activities, all issues related to gender segregation. It really hurt me.
The government’s role in these abuses or failure to address them can amount to human rights violations.As the debate over human rights for LGBT people in Japan continues to gain momentum and the national bullying policy comes up for review, the government should sharpen bullying prevention and response measures to specifically enumerate categories of people who are particularly vulnerable to school-based harassment and violence, including LGBT youth.Governments are obligated to ensure the rights to health, information, and education, and the right to be heard, for all children. “So even if one teacher is ready to help, the administration is likely not prepared to support that teacher.”Japan’s failure to address the various barriers LGBT students face in Japan in accessing education can amount to a violation of the right to education, which is enshrined in multiple international human rights instruments. A lawyer in Tokyo said that several schools in the city had consulted with him on issues such as uniforms and lavatory access when they became aware that they had transgender students, and as a result agreed that students would be able to wear uniforms and have access to lavatories and school activities according to their gender identity.The vast majority of Japan’s junior high and high schools require students to wear uniforms. We heard that some schools allowed students to attend the class that corresponded to their gender identity. LGBT Bullying and Exclusion in Japanese Schools “I visited the health center nurse every day for a year,” she told Human Rights Watch. The teacher responded by instructing the class on the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity disorder.“That lecture only made it worse,” Osamu said, explaining that the teacher at no point mentioned kindness, tolerance, or human rights. “Think about how it looks to society.”Such rigid enforcement can also be exploited by students who bully or harass their transgender peers. Emboldened by learning about LGBT rights on the Internet and by other students at his school coming out to him in private, Osamu disclosed his sexual orientation during a school assembly by wearing a t-shirt that read, “I’m gay.”“I had heard a lot of gay jokes around me and I thought if the other students knew there were LGBT people around them, they might stop being so mean,” Osamu told Human Rights Watch. They would make mistakes because of this, and it could get worse.–Tadashi I., 17, Nagoya, November 2015Even if one teacher is ready to help, the administration is likely not prepared to support that teacher, which can mean the teacher is left alienated in their own compassion.–Ai K., LGBT youth counselor, Fukuoka, August 2015The Japanese government has failed to ensure that its policies against bullying are sufficiently enforced by school staff and education officials, undermining Japan’s professed commitment to LGBT human rights.Japan’s expansive Basic Policy on the Prevention of Bullying, issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) following the passing of the Bullying Prevention Act in June 2013, has proved to be an inadequate response to the problem.