A majority of Japanese support changing
the island nation's laws to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
According to a poll of 1,259 people
conducted in March, 51 percent of respondents support such unions.
Support was highest among respondents
in their 20s and 30s, exceeding 70 percent. But support declined
among respondents in their 60s and 70s, 38 and 24 percent
respectively.
The poll was conducted by researchers
from universities and the National Institute of Population and Social
Security Research, Bloomberg
Business
reported.
The
Japan News reported that a majority of respondents said they
are uncomfortable with sexual conduct between men and would feel
resistance to male gay friends.
“Many people can accept romantic
feelings between same-sex people, but there is strong intolerance to
such feelings of familiar people and same-sex sexual conduct,” the
researchers are quoted as saying.
(Related: Tokyo
ward Shibuya to recognize marriages of gay couples.)