Japan enacted a law to promote LGBTQ understanding last Friday after months of debate, but for some activists, the discussions did as much to entrench existing discrimination as encourage more open attitudes.
And while pushback against the legislation has mostly come from conservative circles raising concerns over threats to the family unit, the debate also fomented culture war arguments over entry by transgender people into sex-segregated spaces such as bathrooms and the traditional public baths frequented by much of the population.
For many activists and supporters, the issue over bathhouse entry, with critics raising the specter of men posing as transgender entering women’s baths, was a mostly manufactured concern that saw the debate over the law become increasingly charged and contributed to it being watered down in critical respects.
