THE JAPAN TIMES

Gay pair lecture at schools in bid to nip prejudice in bud

By KEIJI HIRANO

Saturday, September 28,1996
Kyodo News

@Asked about their images of homosexuals, students at Kikukawa Junior High School in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Prefecture, responded, "Weird" and "Don't let them close to me"
But after attending a lecture at the school in July by Satoru Ito and Ryuta Yanase, a gay couple who have been together for more than 10 years, many students' reactions changed dramatically.
"I am ashamed of myself, as I was so ignorant of the hardships homosexuals face that I spoke in derogatory terms about them," said a second-year junior high school student.
Ito, 43 and Yanase, 34 are now seeking more opportunities to talk to junior high and high school students about their lives. "The mass media often spread distorted images about gays and lesbians that brings about discrimination and prejudice against us. But we want to give young people accurate information about us-that homosexuals are no different from heterosexuals," they said in a statement.
Ito and Yanase, both from Chiba Prefecture, have published books to provide general readers with basic information by describing their own lives in the community, and they have lectured to teachers and journalists.
As part of their activities , in January 1995 then started to visit high schools, mainly in the Tokyo area.
"We tell students that homosexuality is neither a disease nor an abnormal sexual desire," they said in a statement " In addition to explaining the difference in sexual orientation, we talk about the hardships we have faced since we recognized our homosexuality,"
They say the most frequent question from students is how someone can love a partner of the same sex.
Their reply is : "Can you tell us why you are attracted to the opposite sex ? Maybe you can't similarly, it is impossible for us homosexuals to answer. It is impossible for human beings to control their own sexual orientation."
The visit to Kikukawa Junior High was the first time they have talked to younger students, but they believe it is important to do so.
Yanase acknowledged that he was attracted to other boys when he was in junior high school, but he desperately concealed his homosexuality, afraid he would be bullied by friends.
"People laughed at homosexuals, in television programs," he said. "When I consulted a dictionary to check the word homosexual, it said 'abnormal or perverted, and I told myself I should not become this kind of person."
He told students it has talked a long time for him to feel comfortable with his sexuality, something he achieved through realizing the existence of other gays and by meeting Ito. Although some 10 percent of the students at Kikukawa Junior High still said they could not understand homosexuality, even after listening to the lecture, about half said their images of homosexuals have changed.
Kazuko Fukunaga, the teacher who organized the lecture, is satisfied that her students were able to learn something about the various kinds of discrimination in society.
"It is very important to learn from the parties concerned, "she said. "And our students will be generous to other minorities, including disabled people and the aged, after hearing directly about the experiences of Ito and Yanase."
The Education Ministry has not dealt with sex education in schools, let alone handled issues concerning homosexuality. An official at the ministry's Physical and Sports Bureau said, "We have no chapters about sex education in government guidelines for teaching. As a result, we do not place homosexuality officially in the curriculum.",
Schools decide entirely by themselves how they deal with sex education and homosexuality, the official said. Ito and Yanase hope to influence those decisions. They have sent letters to all the schools in the Tokyo area to introduce their activities, hoping some will invite the couple to speak. "Statistics show that 3 percent to 5 percent of population are homosexual, so there must be quite a few homosexuals among the students we met," Ito said. "I bet they feel as alienated as we did when we were their age, but I want them to realize through our lecture that they are not alone."


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