Among those males, 82 percent said had been the target of bullying or other violence.Īsked whether they talked to anyone about their sexual orientation, half of the males and 30 percent of the females said they had no one to turn to.Įven among those who came out about their sexual orientation, 70 percent said they told their classmates, instead of adults, including parents or teachers. The respondents ranged in age from 10 to 35 and attended schools in the Kanto region, centering on Tokyo.Īcts of violence were especially conspicuous toward males with gender dysphoria, a condition in which a person feels their emotional and psychological gender identity to be opposite to their biological sex. Mainstream Japanese society slowly working to accommodate sexual minoritiesĪccording to an Internet survey conducted between October and December 2013 on 609 members of the LGBT community by a citizens’ group in Tokyo, almost 70 percent of the respondents said they had been the target of some form of violence or persecution - be it physical, sexual or verbal - or were neglected or felt left out of a group.
