Thread by @hrw

Back in 2016, we embarked on research about the bullying of LGBT students in Japanese schools because, while the government of Japan was a leader on LGBT issues at the United Nations and internationally, they had made very little progress here at home.

Dozens of Japanese students that HRW researchers @knightktm & @MichaelBochenek interviewed told us that, in their class, it was common knowledge that they were being bullied and their teachers would never help them. Here are some Manga illustrations of their stories.

For example, when our LGBT senior researcher @knightktm interviewed Akemi, an 18-year-old transgender student in Okinawa. He said “I only heard about LGBT people from teachers when they made gay jokes.”

Akemi also described the physical and verbal harassment he faced from as early as elementary school in Japan—just for being and looking different. He told us he just wanted to know he was OK – and that he was safe at school.

Since our groundbreaking research in 2016, the Japanese government took steps to protect LGBT youth in schools, but, five years later, Japan still has no national law against LGBT discrimination.

Help us call on Japan to introduce #EqualityActJapan now! hrw.org/EqualityActJap…