From: rwockner@netcom.com (Rex Wockner)
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 22:33:37 -0700 (PDT)


FILED WITH GAY-NEWSPAPER AFFILIATES AUG. 29. POSTED TO THE INTERNET SEPT. 12. 


                FIRST GAY PARADE IN JAPAN DRAWS 1,500

        Tokyo saw its first gay-pride parade Aug. 28 when 1,500 lesbians 
and gays marched from the gay-bar area of Shinjuku to neighboring 
Shibuya, three miles away.
        Lesbians outnumbered gay men by a substantial margin.
        Passersby looked surprised or waved and snapped photos, according 
to several reports. There were no reported negative incidents.
        "Japan is not an easy place to live for lesbians, so for  me, 
organizing this was a way of reducing stress," said Akiyo Ohya.
        "Up until now, it was hard to come out and say you're gay," 
parade Chairman Teishiro Minami told AP. "But changes in our society have 
made it easier to be open about it."
        Minami said he's waited 20 years to organize a gay march.
        "This is a landmark day for us," marcher Mizuko said. "We were 
able to prove that we're alive and that we exist in this society."
        "People look at us and think we're strange," said another 
marcher. "Perhaps their way of thinking won't change immediately, but I 
hope ordinary people will gradually start to accept us."
        Marchers carried signs with such slogans as "Mother, Your Son Is 
Gay" and "Stop Homophobia." 
        The Japanese are tolerant of homosexuality, but under a rather 
strict "don't ask, don't tell" norm.
        The Shinjuku district, incidentally, has about 400 gay bars, most 
of them very small.

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