hoedere:

lgbtqblogs:

A LGBTI Tokyo assemblyman has announced that he will run for parliament in next month’s elections.

If successful, Taiga Ishikawa, 40, will become the first gay male lawmaker in the conservative country.

‘My goal is to promote diversity in the community,’ he told the Wall Street Journal.

Ishikawa, who lost his bid to become leader of the Social Democratic Party last year, will be ranked at the top of the small opposition party’s proportional representation list in Tokyo 

Ishikawa said he is eager to promote gay marriage as well as the rights of the women and the disabled.

He added that his decision to run for election was inspired by the recent comings out of Apple chief Tim Cook and Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe.

Ishikawa publicly came out in 2012 in his book Where is My Boyfriend?

Before entering politics, he founded LGBTI youth group Peer Friends.

Kanako Otsuji of the main opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan, became the first LGBTI parliamentarian last year after a member of the upper house resigned and she was awarded the seat as runner-up.

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