LGBTQ summit 'Pride 7' calls on Japan to enact anti-discrimination law

Japanese LGBTQ activists and supporters on Thursday held an inaugural Pride 7 Summit in Tokyo, where they called on Group of Seven governments to promote and strengthen support and legal protections for LGBTQ people and urged Japan's government to enact an anti-discrimination law before it hosts this year's G-7 summit in May.

Japan is the only G-7 country that does not recognise same-sex marriage or provide other equal rights protections for LGBTQ people.

Participants at the Pride 7 Summit called on the G-7 to protect the rights of LGBTQ people and prohibit discrimination throughout society.

The Pride 7 engagement group will finalise the wording of a draft communique and submit it to each G-7 nation by the end of April, said Kanae Doi, Japan director of Human Rights Watch and a P-7 organiser.

P-7 was established in March to make policy proposals to step up efforts ahead of the G-7 summit, which will be held in Hiroshima.

While momentum is on the rise ahead of the G-7, experts say