Permanent LGBTQ+ Center in Western Japan!

Hi friends! Thank you for supporting Nijiiro Diversity! Many of you, especially international donors, probably have come across our project page with keywords, but I thought not all of you may be very familiar with our history. With Giving Tuesday and the month of giving coming up, I thougt of sharing the quick overview of our history and the history of our LGBTQ center. We have 11 years of lots of achievements and positive changes made in Japanese society, and you have been part of it, too! Thank you very much! I hope this update (a little different from updates I normally send, I know!) would be interesting to you. Please continue to be part of our movement by donating us or sharing this update with your friends!:)

Nijiiro Diversity (since 2013)

Nijiiro Diversity was established in 2013 as the first Japanese nonprofit to focus on LGBTQ equality at workplaces. Nijiiro means rainbow in Japanese. Our founder Maki Muraki began Nijiiro Diversity based on her own experiences working as a lesbian person. She was constantly marginalized at work and felt the need to keep hiding her private life. She kept changing work due to marginalization and fell into depression. She noticed that this was common obstacles faced by LGBTQ people around her, and started Nijiiro Diversity with just one desk at a shared office. Nijiiro Diversity began providing LGBTQ seminars to corporations to assist them to create LGBTQ inclusive work environment. Over time, we also started giving LGBTQ seminars to public sector and schools. Due to the belief that we need solid evidence to convince the society about the need for LGBTQ focused policies, in 2014, we began our nationwide survey on obstacles faced by LGBTQ people in Japan. Today, we have gathered over 18,000 people. We grew to become one of the most trusted LGBTQ organization in Japan. Since 2014, we have also began LGBTQ safe space, and we have always worked very closely with the local LGBTQ community through our safe space and events. Our research has shown that LGBTQ people were hit harder than average by the pandemic. Marriage equality lawsuit that began in 2019 and political discussion on whether to create a law to protect LGBTQ rights have caused strong backlash and unwanted attention to LGBTQ people. While these political attention is inevitable to achieve legal rights, LGBTQ community needs more support to get through. Due to strengthen support, we opened the first permanent LGBTQ center in Osaka, Pride Center Osaka in 2022.

Pride Center Osaka (since 2022)

At Pride Center Osaka, we provide safe space, individual in-person and online counseling, LGBTQ mini-library and various events. The space is open to anyone, and our service is free of charge. Our center has been visited by over 3,000 people. We also have an outreach program called Dokodemo Pride Caravan. Dokodemo means anywhere in Japanese. We visit universities and schools with our rainbow van as a mobile library. Students can stop by at our mobile library, read books from our center and chat with our staff. We also provide seminar and discussion session for students and staff. This year, we also began our new challenge at our center. We are beginning LGBTQ learning program for youth with the belief that the society cannot change without educating our future generations. There are more and more youth that have interests in studying gender diversity and equality. However, with LGBTQ representation still being quite low in Japanese society, Pride Center Osaka is one of the very few places where they can visit and meet LGBTQ activists.

Thank you for being part of our movement! The Supreme Court decision on marriage equality is expected to be made in 2025 or 2026. For Giving Tuesday, please consider supporting us or spread words for us so we can continue advocacy and community support to make LGBTQ equality happen!

Best wishes,

Megumi

Links:

• Nijiiro Diversity website
• Pride Center Osaka website