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Japanese Prime Minister Fires Top Aide Over Homophobic Remarks

Masayoshi Arai, the executive secretary to the prime minister, claimed he would “not want to live next door” to an LGBT couple or even see them.

A top aide to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been fired after declaring that he would “not want to live next door” to an LGBT couple or even see them. Masayoshi Arai, Kishida’s executive secretary, went on to say that legalizing same-sex marriage would “change the way society is” in Japan and cause many people to leave the country. The Japanese prime minister condemned the remarks as “outrageous” and said they were “completely out of line with the Cabinet's approach to respecting diversity and creating an inclusive society.” However, Japan remains the only G-7 nation not to have legalized same-sex marriage, despite polling showing that a majority of Japanese people support it. In a conference following his ouster, Arai retracted his statement and apologized for “having used expressions that may cause misunderstanding.”