Aid for Sexual Minorities in the Aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Yumi UCHIDA
Society of Humanities, Graduate School of Miyagi Gakuin Women's University/Regular Member, Sexualities and Human Rights Network ESTO

【The article below is the same as the article that appears in the fourteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.】

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　I still cannot forget the overwhelming terror I felt when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. The ground shook violently for what seemed like an eternity, and the size of the tsunamis that hit the Tohoku region beggared belief. As a recipient of the aid that has since been pouring in from all over the country and the world, I would like to express my sincere gratitude. It has enabled us to start rebuilding our shattered lives.
　For some time I have been concerned with the problems of sexual minorities (hereafter LGBTIs), and I am a member of the sexual and human rights network ESTO. Our organization recently hosted a discussion in Sendai on natural disasters and sexual minorities, where participants shared their experiences and thoughts of the disaster and its aftermath. When one survivor who has GID (Gender Identity Disorder) spoke about having to wear the same nabe shatsu (chest-binding undergarment) for a week, ESTO collected and delivered donations of nabe shatsu from far and wide. Although there are many other organizations besides ours supporting the aected regions, there is still a long way to go. Here I will focus on the needs of LGBTI survivors.
　One of the primary problems after a disaster is that of identication for accessing medical facilities or safety conrmation. People with GID or DSD (Disorders/Divergence of Sex Development) nd it hard to use medical facilities because the gender mentioned on their health insurance cards may not correspond to their physical features. The fact that there are few medical practitioners with proper knowledge of LGBTIs in the make-shift hospitals further compounds the problem. Moreover, if the patient is unconscious with a condition associated with his/her physical gender, there may be unnecessary delays in treatment because such decisions are likely to be based on physical appearance. Proper identication poses a similar problem for safety conrmation. Notication regarding deceased persons is based on physical appearance, which may differ from the sex noted in his/her official family registry (koseki). Since homosexual partners are not legally considered to be family members, they are denied the right to make vital decisions for medical treatment or to receive the bodies of their deceased partners.
　Another issue is the sex segregation of living quarters in most evacuation centers. People with GID are categorized as male or female based on their gender identity or their biological sex. This system is far from perfect: The former case leads to problems in using communal baths and changing rooms, and the latter case subjects them to needless stress. The living conditions at evacuation centers are therefore very dicult for LGBTIs because their existence is not recognized.
　Finally, the problem of identication also arises when applying for fin　ancial aid. People with GID or DSD are scrutinized and exposed to awkward questions when they submit documents that note their gender.
　These are just a few of the problems faced by the LGBTI community in the aftermath of the disaster. I feel that there is an urgent need not only for us to appeal to society, but also for intermediaries who are well-versed in the needs of LGBTI to act as a pipe-line between relief efforts and the victims. The problems I have listed here pose a grave threat to the protection of basic human rights, and cannot be ignored. There remains much to be done in order to ensure quality of life for LGBTI victims of this natural disaster.