Same-Sex Marriage in Japan: If Taiwan can, so can we!?

Japanese popular cultures often experiment with their unique representations of gender and sexuality. The popularity of BL (Boys Love) comics, for example, which portray the romantic relationships between two men, has rapidly increased in recent decades. BL is now one of the most popular genres of media text in Japan. When it comes to the legal domain, however, Japan lags behind many countries in terms of recognising the equal rights for sexual minorities.

In this public lecture, Dr Katsuhiko Suganuma will discuss the current situations regarding the possibility of legalising same-sex marriage in Japan. From the historical as well as contemporary perspective, the lecture is concerned with where Japan's same-sex marriage campaign currently sits, and how it could progress towards the future.

Dr Suganuma is an AJS-TAS committee member and Lecturer at the School of Humanities, University of Tasmania. He has published a variety of books and essays that discuss Japanese queer cultures.

This lecture is co-organised with the Asia Institute Tasmania and the Australia-Japan Society (Tasmania).