Japan

With a landmark vote by the assembly of Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, the district famous as a mecca for trendy youngsters became the first locale in Japan to recognize same sex partnerships as the “equivalent of a marriage,”

TOKYO — George Takei said he needed courage and anger to come out as gay and to join the equal rights movement for sexual minorities in the U.S., and he hopes his Japanese counterparts will do the same to make their society more equal. Takei said he has noticed a movement beginning in Japan, though the country of his ancestry has a long way to go.

TOKYO — Thousands gathered in Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya business and shopping district for LGBT Pride on Sunday.

When top Western leaders decided to stay away from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Winter Olympics, he wasn’t exactly left friendless: he has the heads of leading Asian nations and others to help show the world that not everyone is put off by his human rights record and the anti-gay law he championed.

TOKYO — Japan’s Supreme Court this week ruled that a toddler born to a transgender man and his wife through artificial insemination shall be regarded as their legitimate child.

Taiga Ishikawa has been elected Japan’s first openly gay politician after winning a seat in the Tokyo ward assembly in local elections on Sunday. Prior to his victory, no openly gay politician had ever won office in Japan.