Why I can't live with my partner

Fuka was born as a female, but his sexuality is male. Even though he had recognized himself as male since he was a kid, he was scared of coming out about his real sexuality to his family and friends and was not able to come out until he entered high school because he thought people were going to make fun of him. The research by Tamagawa (2020) shows that although the majority have come out in Japan, their coming-out experience is selective and some people feel it is impossible to come out to their parents (Tamagawa, 2020, p.48).

However, his life completely changed after he came to Perth, Australia, where he met a lot of people who have confidence and be themselves regardless of age, nationality, and gender, and his partner, to study abroad as an exchange student.

He learned that he could live the way he is and what he wants from his experience in Australia and finally decided to be true to himself and came out about his sexuality.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b39d55_049cda151c784e88bae4477a3ec25d96/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Pictures: Fuka and his friends when he was in Australia

As Fuka mentioned in the interview video, there are still a lot of negative effects on LGBTQ+ people such as discrimination, mental illness due to bullying, and the lack of opportunities in the workplace.

In addition, Fuka met his partner in Australia. Fuka and his partner got married this March in Australia. However, they are not able to live together in Japan because same-sex marriage is still illegal in Japan and the government doesn’t issue a spouse visa to his partner. They can spend only three months together when his partner visits him on a tourist visa. Even though they got married, they are not recognized as a legal partner, and they can’t spend time together.

There are a lot of things we can’t do because of same-sex marriage, although normal couples can do them.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b39d55_fb67cdda6ca548088489890536f0297d/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Pictures: Fuka and his partner

Now he’s doing an internship at “Marriage For All Japan” to achieve the realization of same-sex marriage. While it’s still a long way to the realization of same-sex marriage, he believes that it is necessary to increase the number of members of the National Diet of Japan who are in favor of two people of the same legal gender couple’s marriage and make a new law. He will keep speaking out and fighting for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community.