Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday fired one of his aides for making anti-LGBTQ comments, calling them “outrageous and completely incompatible with administration policies.”
Masayoshi Arai, an economic official who joined Kishida’s administration last fall, said people would leave the country if same-sex marriage was allowed, adding he would not want to live next door to a gay couple or lesbian and not even look at them, locals new outlets reported.
He later apologized for what he said were “misleading” remarks.
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sacked an aide on Saturday for offensive comments about gay and lesbian couples.
(Photo by Eugene Hoshiko – Pool/Getty Images)
The layoff comes as Japan prepares to welcome the United States and other allies for its Group of 7 meeting in May.
Japan is the only G-7 country that does not legally recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions.
Another of Kishida’s aides resigned late last year after making anti-LGBTQ remarks.
Kishida’s approval ratings are also swamped after a series of resignations as national support for same-sex marriage is growing, opinion polls have shown.
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Last November, a Tokyo court upheld a ban on same-sex marriage, but also said the absence of legal protection for gay or lesbian couples constituted a human rights violation.
Reuters contributed to this report.
