尾辻かな子さんのインタビュー記事

レズビアンであることをカミングアウトした大阪府議、尾辻かな子さんのインタビュー記事が、ジャパンタイムズに掲載された。
TransNews Weblogより。

Assemblywoman puts sex on the agenda
Lesbian politician Kanako Otsuji talks about gender issues in Japan [The Japan Times]

You said you were hurt when other students called you a "les," but were also happy when someone mistook you for a boy. Were you having gender identity problems?

People in Japan tend to think of lesbians as being very feminine. The ones I've known are not necessarily transgendered, but they do have doubts about their femaleness. They have lived their whole lives as females, so it's too late to think seriously about changing sex. I wrote that in the book so that people would understand that sexuality is not a black-and-white thing.

You sometimes hear of heterosexuals acknowledging their gayness, or saying that they love someone who "happens" to be the same sex. They understand homosexuality from that point of view. But I have no sexual desire toward men, only women. I would never say that the person I "happen" to be in love with is a woman. I love that woman because she is a woman. It's a very complicated subject.

結構突っ込んだ内容のインタビューで驚いた。例えば「レズ」と呼ばれて傷ついたことがあるが、男性と間違えられたときには満更でもなかったこと。また「ゲイネス（同性愛であること）」について、「たまたま好きになった人が同性だった」と考えている異性愛者がいるが、自分は「相手が女性（同性）であるから愛する」のであって、「たまたま女性（同性）だから」ということでは決してない、と断言している。

How do you feel about the way the media treats sexual minorities?

It makes me angry. This morning I saw [comedian] Razor Ramon for the first time. I never watch TV. I'd only heard about him. He's not homosexual. He just uses gayness for his act, to make people laugh. I'm afraid that people will get the idea that gay people are all like that, yelling and pumping their hips.

Are there any groups who complain to the media about discrimination?
Right now there is no organization that monitors the media about such things. In a speech during the Chiba governor's election this year, Kensaku Morita [a former TV actor and LDP DIet member, who ran unsuccessfully as an Independent] said that if Japan maintains its policy of gender-free education, there will be no masculinity or femininity, only "okama" [a derogatory term, similar to "homos"].

We became angry and started a blog to protest his statement. I suppose you could call that a movement.

Sexual minority organizations concentrate on counseling: How can we survive in this society? We haven't reached the stage where we can operate as a political group. We can appeal to heterosexuals with something like this parade, which was held for the first time in three years. We also sent questionnaires to candidates in the Lower House election, asking them about their policies regarding sexual minorities.