Toward a society where “harmony is valued above all”! Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016

Nice to meet you. My name is Ito, and I am a new employee for fiscal year 2016.

“People tend to be negative toward things they cannot see or do not know. What they cannot understand is frightening—ghosts, aliens, and the like. Some people are negative toward foreigners, but that is because they do not know much about the other person’s country or culture. Therefore, for those who are considered ‘normal,’ people like us—who are still not well known—are like aliens, and they feel they have no choice but to reject us.”

This is an excerpt from Fumino Sugiyama’s book, “Double Happiness.”
The reason I introduced this book is that 12 new employees participated in “Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2016,” for which Fumino Sugiyama, the author of “Double Happiness,” serves as a co-representative!

Tokyo Rainbow Pride is an event that aims to create a society in which sexual minorities, including LGBT, can live more authentically and positively without being exposed to discrimination or prejudice. As a company that promotes diversity, SUNNY SIDE UP provides PR support for Tokyo Rainbow Pride every year.

LGBT is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (which may also include gender identity disorder), and is used as a collective term for sexual minorities.

The 10 days from April 29 to May 8 are known as “Rainbow Week,” during which everything is dyed in rainbow colors
and Shibuya was awash in rainbow colors everywhere.
Did you happen to notice?

We participated in the main events—the “Festa” and the “Parade”—held on the final two days of Rainbow Week, the 7th and 8th. In the parade, participants in colorful floats and costumes marched through the streets of Shibuya and Harajuku!

Here is what the parade looked like.

Everyone participated dressed in their own choice of rainbow colors.

Of course, we new employees also gave it our all.

The event reportedly drew a record-breaking crowd of over 70,000 visitors, showing that public understanding of LGBT has been increasing in recent years. Personally, I also feel that I hear this term more often than before.

On the other hand, I also learned that understanding of LGBT has not yet fully taken root across Japan. In fact, at this event, I met someone who said, “I still haven’t been able to come out at the company where I work.” That person seemed very upbeat, yet even so, they said they feel hesitant to come out at work.

It is said that about 7.6% of Japan’s population falls under LGBT (Dentsu Diversity Lab “LGBT Survey 2015”), but the number would be higher if you include those who have not disclosed—or cannot disclose—that they are LGBT. (For reference, 7.6% is said to be roughly the same as the percentage of left-handed people or people with AB blood type.)

“People tend to be negative toward what they do not know.”

This was the line from Fumino Sugiyama’s book that resonated with me the most. Even if I believed I was not consciously doing so, the very act of “not knowing” may have created an environment that is unbearably painful for someone. “By knowing, something can begin.” That is what I realized over these two days.

Please look around you. Even if you ask why someone is sighing, you may not understand because it is not your own experience—but two people can find a strength in looking together that one person alone cannot. Perhaps your very first action could become the catalyst that lightens someone’s heart, even just a little.

One action that can help lighten someone’s heart is the word “Ally.” More precisely, it refers to a “Straight ally”—straight (heterosexual) people who support sexual minorities.

If you declare, “I will be an Ally!”, you can become an Ally as well. By speaking up right now, the circle of understanding may expand. A single action may be able to help someone.

At the very least, our company SUNNY SIDE UP and I, Ito, are Allies!