LDP Lawmaker Under Fire for Calling LGBT Couples “Unproductive”

July 25, 2018

Tokyo- Mio Sugita of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is under fire for her recent article in a monthly magazine in which she called LGBT couples "unproductive."

On administrative support provided to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples, Sugita said: "They do not have children. In other words, they are unproductive."

Yuichiro Tamaki, coleader of the Democratic Party for the People, said at a press conference on Tuesday that her remarks evoke Nazi eugenics and are "impermissible."

Speaking to reporters, Koichi Yamauchi, acting Diet affairs head of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, slammed Sugita's remark as "outrageous."

"She made it sound as though people who don't have kids are useless," he complained.

Even the LDP's Hiromi Yoshida, party secretary-general in the House of Councillors, criticized Sugita at a separate news conference.

"She should make comments respecting human rights," Yoshida said.

Meeting the press, LDP Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai said it is important to try to realize a society accepting diversity.

But he also indicated that he does not take Sugita's remark as problematic, saying political standpoints and views on life vary from person to person. Jiji Press