Japan： Update non-LGBT-inclusive statements in the Curriculum Guidelines
署名活動の主旨
When I fell in love for the first time in my second year of junior high school, I was shocked to the point of my mind going blank by a sentence in a textbook that read, “During adolescence, interest in the opposite sex tends to increase.” For me, who couldn’t find anyone around me who felt the same way I did, it was as if the textbook was telling me that liking someone of the same sex was wrong and unnatural.
Because I liked a girl of the same sex, I came to feel that my feelings of loving someone were wrong. What I learned in junior high school cast a long shadow over me.
Even after becoming an adult, the textbooks had not changed, so I decided to raise my voice together with others. Unless education changes, children who are sexual minorities will continue to be left without support.
In 2014, when we launched a signature campaign here, it was the once-in-ten-years opportunity for the government to revise the national curriculum guidelines. These guidelines determine what is taught in schools. At the time, they stated that sooner or later, everyone comes to like the opposite sex during adolescence. Not only was this inconsistent with scientific facts, but it would also pass on the kind of suffering I experienced to future children.
Unfortunately, the curriculum guidelines did not change at that time, but ten years have passed, and now, in 2026, discussions for revision are underway again.
From the current Curriculum Guidelines for Elementary Schools (Physical Education), Commentary (announced in 2017):
As many people like us have continued to speak out, textbooks have gradually changed. Today, textbooks in home economics, moral education, English, contemporary society, and even elementary school health and physical education all include references to the diversity of sexuality. However, this does not necessarily mean that these topics are covered in class, and many children say they have no opportunity to learn about them.
If the national curriculum guidelines explicitly mention the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity, it will strongly motivate teachers to convey this essential knowledge to children.
Sexual orientation and gender identity vary from person to person. We hope for revisions that are scientifically accurate and that will help create a future open to diversity.
13,930
署名活動の主旨
When I fell in love for the first time in my second year of junior high school, I was shocked to the point of my mind going blank by a sentence in a textbook that read, “During adolescence, interest in the opposite sex tends to increase.” For me, who couldn’t find anyone around me who felt the same way I did, it was as if the textbook was telling me that liking someone of the same sex was wrong and unnatural.
Because I liked a girl of the same sex, I came to feel that my feelings of loving someone were wrong. What I learned in junior high school cast a long shadow over me.
Even after becoming an adult, the textbooks had not changed, so I decided to raise my voice together with others. Unless education changes, children who are sexual minorities will continue to be left without support.
In 2014, when we launched a signature campaign here, it was the once-in-ten-years opportunity for the government to revise the national curriculum guidelines. These guidelines determine what is taught in schools. At the time, they stated that sooner or later, everyone comes to like the opposite sex during adolescence. Not only was this inconsistent with scientific facts, but it would also pass on the kind of suffering I experienced to future children.
Unfortunately, the curriculum guidelines did not change at that time, but ten years have passed, and now, in 2026, discussions for revision are underway again.
From the current Curriculum Guidelines for Elementary Schools (Physical Education), Commentary (announced in 2017):
As many people like us have continued to speak out, textbooks have gradually changed. Today, textbooks in home economics, moral education, English, contemporary society, and even elementary school health and physical education all include references to the diversity of sexuality. However, this does not necessarily mean that these topics are covered in class, and many children say they have no opportunity to learn about them.
If the national curriculum guidelines explicitly mention the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity, it will strongly motivate teachers to convey this essential knowledge to children.
Sexual orientation and gender identity vary from person to person. We hope for revisions that are scientifically accurate and that will help create a future open to diversity.
オンライン署名の最新情報
このオンライン署名をシェアする
2026年4月13日に作成されたオンライン署名