A former lawmaker who played a big role in making the Netherlands in 2001 the first country to legalize same-sex marriage has called on Japan to make more efforts to promote the human rights of sexual minorities.
"We would love to see Japan and the Japanese government become more vocal about LGBT rights, because Japan is already in a core group of LGBT-friendly countries," Boris Dittrich, the Dutch advocacy director of Human Rights Watch's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender program, said in a recent interview.
The 57-year-old gay rights advocate, who visited Japan to take part in a series of events for Tokyo Rainbow Week during the Golden Week holidays to support the nation's sexual minority community, said Japan has been in the forefront of countries that back lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights at the United Nations, cosponsoring programs to protect them.