Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party has discussed revising the wording in a bill to promote understanding of the LGBTQ community and decided to entrust the matter to senior members of the party.
A panel including an LDP special committee met for the third time this week on Friday. Talks centered on changing the wording of a bill compiled by a nonpartisan group of lawmakers two years ago. Divisions within the LDP prevented the bill from being submitted to the Diet.
Participants discussed rewording the line that translates as "discrimination on account of gender identity is unforgivable" to "unfair discrimination on account of gender identity is unacceptable."
Some participants said the proposed change was appropriate while others pointed out that the definition of "unfair discrimination" was vague.
At the end, the participants agreed to leave the decision to senior members of the special committee.
Some of the senior members said after the meeting it was their understanding that the proposed revision was accepted.
The LDP plans to proceed with procedures and discuss the bill with its coalition partner Komeito and opposition parties next week, aiming to submit the revised bill to the Diet.