KYODO NEWS - Dec 11, 2019 - 17:12 | Lifestyle, All, Japan

Most respondents to a recent survey in Japan are familiar with the acronym LGBT but their understanding of whom it refers to remains relatively low, a research institute has said.

The online survey conducted by Japan LGBT Research Institute Inc. in April and May showed 91.0 percent were familiar with the term, while only 57.1 percent correctly understood its meaning.

The figures were up from 54.4 percent and 32.7 percent, respectively, in the previous survey in 2016 but suggest measures need to be taken for a better understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the institute said in November.

Some local governments in Japan have issued partnership certificates to LGBT couples, but legal marriage remains applicable only to heterosexual couples.

The latest survey of 2,600 people aged 20 to 69 also showed 83.9 percent of respondents saying they were not aware of any sexual minorities around them.

The institute said another online survey conducted in the same months on some 428,000 people aged 20 to 69 found that 10.0 percent of the 348,000 who gave valid responses identify themselves as LGBT or other sexual minorities.

It defined sexual minorities as those who are not heterosexual cisgender, whose gender identity matches their sex at birth.

By sexual orientation, bisexual stood at 2.8 percent of the 348,000 respondents and questioning came at 1.4 percent. Asexual and homosexual were both at 0.9 percent.

By gender identity, X gender stood at 2.5 percent, followed by transgender at 1.8 percent and questioning at 1.2 percent.



[Getty/Kyodo]

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