‘Please keep on fighting’: Rina Sawayama calls for gay marriage in Japan

Words: Alastair James; pictures: Attitude

Rina Sawayama has called for gay marriage in Japan in a passionate speech over the weekend.

The ‘Hold the Girl’ singer was speaking at the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan when she pointed out that the country is the only G7 country not to have the provisions for same-sex couples.

Rina said: “I’m bisexual, but if I try to have a same-sex marriage here, I can’t.”

Of the lack of protection in Japan she added: “This is something really embarrassing. Something that would accept me and my friends, my chosen family, a fair law”

Rina Sawayama speaking on LGBT rights in Japan at Summer Sonic, Tokyo (crowd view)pic.twitter.com/ZlIK15BchV

— Rina Sawayama Updates (@RinaSawaUpdates) August 20, 2022

Asking the crowd, “Do you think we should have equal rights?” she went on to say: “If you think we should, please with us, for us, please keep on fighting. LGBT people are human beings. LGBT people are Japanese. Love is love. Family is family. Let’s fight together.”

The Attitude Award winner previously told us that “I don’t know where I would be” without her ‘chosen family’. 

Rina, who came out as pansexual after previously coming out as bisexual, wrote her upcoming album, Hold the Girl, during lockdown and has said the experience was “healing”. 

“I uncovered a couple of things about myself, and it really landed me in a weird place psychologically,” adding, “Writing about it has kind of healed me,” she told Time magazine last year.

She also said: “We’ve come a long way for LGBT visibility and even having non-binary people come out is amazing.

“What leadership means to me is constantly finding ways to do good. I think you can always do better and I think some people think doing better, especially in this world, is earning more money and, you know, reaching more career highs, and I think that can become pretty futile.”

Hold The Girl is due out on 16 September.

The Attitude September/October issue is out now.