On March 5, 2013, last Friday, the first gay marriage in Tokyo Disneyland resort was held.
Koyuki Higashi, who is a stage actress turned gay rights activist, had been blogging about the wedding since May 2012, when she first enquired to Tokyo Disney about the possibility of marrying Hiroko there. Tokyo Disney responded that it would allow gay couples to hold weddings in its grounds, following a Walt Disney Company policy that has been in place since 2007.
Higashi wed her partner Hiroko in front of about 30 guests at the popular theme park and resort. The two women who were married were told at first that one of them would have to wear women's clothing and the other would have to wear men's clothes and look like a 'man'.
A staff member said a same-sex wedding would create “repercussions” among visitors if both brides wore wedding dresses or both grooms donned tuxedoes. But just few days later the resort operator got back in touch to say their initial response had been wrong and gay couples were free to mix and match their attire.
Although the wedding itself was purely symbolic seeing as same-sex marriage does not have legal standing in Japan, the bride noted, "We may not have a law that applies to us, but when someone congratulates us for the wedding, I will proudly say, "Thank you!""
Earlier this year, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates praised the Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, after the resort welcomed its first openly gay president, George Kalogridis. Kalogridis, 59, has been with the Walt Disney Company since 1971, when he landed a job bussing tables at Disney's Contemporary Resort Hotel.
In a country where homosexuality is still a taboo, and saw its first openly gay politician elected last year, the wedding was greeted with enthusiasm by local gay people and activists. This is a huge movement for LGBT rights and shows that inequality is becoming a little less unequal with every gay marriage that goes through.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/05/tokyo-disneyland-lesbian-wedding_n_2811588.html
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/05/lesbian-couple-holds-first-same-sex-wedding-at-tokyo-disney/
Kayla Gammie
3/8/13
4:35 pm
No comments:
Post a Comment