When Tokyo hosted the Olympic Games of 1964 in general joy, Itsuo Masuda, 16 at the time, suffered from depression and was haunted by suicidal thoughts.
I admired men, but I didn’t even know it was related to my sexuality. I was so confused about it […]. I wrote to my mom so often that I wanted to die, which made her cry all the time
, he told AFP.
Now 73 years old, Itsuo Masuda is the owner of Kusuo
, a famous gay bar in the rainbow district of Shinjuku Nichome in Tokyo.
Leaning alone at the counter – his bar being currently closed due to the state of emergency in force because of the pandemic – he follows the Olympic Games as the capital japanese welcomes for the second time.
At the time of the first Tokyo Olympics, being gay was a huge taboo
, he recalls. “No one was talking about it.”
The contrast is total with the Olympics-2020 which display a sexual and gender diversity unprecedented in the history of sport.
180 LGBTQ + athletes in Tokyo
At least 180 athletes participating in the event are openly LGBT +, more than triple that in Rio-2016, identified the American site Outsports, specializing in information around LGBT + people in the world of sport. And their pride is often visible in Tokyo.
The offbeat videos of gay volleyball player Douglas Souza are currently a hit on social networks, a performance for one of the few Brazilian sportsmen assuming his homosexuality in a country with sad records of homophobic violence.
I am very proud to say that I am a gay man… and also an Olympic champion! When I was younger I thought I would never get anywhere because of who I was
, commented the Briton Tom Daley after his gold medal in Tokyo in synchronized diving.
Very committed to defending the rights of the LGBT community, American Raven Saunders celebrated her silver medal in the shot put by forming an X with her arms on the podium, as a sign of support for oppressed people.
During the opening ceremony, the Polish lesbian Aleksandra Jarmolinska, specialist in skeet (shooting) paraded with a mask with rainbow features, the colors of the flag symbolizing the LGBT + community.
First transgender at the Olympics
And for the first time in Olympic history, an openly transgender sportswoman also competed in Tokyo, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, born male and turned female.
Visibly outdated
by the event, Hubbard did not shine sportingly but his presence at the Olympics had provoked upstream a complex debate on questions of bioethics, human rights, equity and identity in sport.
I am not totally deaf to the controversy aroused by my participation in these Olympics. And I want to thank the IOC for its commitments on the principles of Olympism and for reaffirming that sport is open to all, inclusive and accessible.
, explained Hubbard after her competition, where she could not raise a bar.
Itsuo Masuda supports her: Poor thing, she’s been subjected to so many criticisms. She’s just a human being
.
Gon Matsunaka, responsable de la Pride House
from Tokyo, a sexual minority friendliness center that opened in October 2020, also believes the New Zealander had additional pressure on her shoulders due to the gaze of society.
“A long way to go”
Athletes like her shouldn’t need to be brave just because they’re transgender
, Mr Matsunaka told AFP.
But he relished the weightlifter’s gesture of heart with his fingers in front of the cameras before leaving the arena, which could be interpreted as an encouragement for transgender people
, he believes.
We still have a long way to go
for the full exercise of LGBT + rights, according to Itsuo Masuda, while for example in Japan, a new anti-discrimination law was not passed before the Tokyo Olympics, for lack of consensus in Parliament.
But for the first time, a Japanese court in March ruled that the country’s non-recognition of gay marriage was unconstitutional.
Mr. Masuda hopes that one day, seeing openly LGBT + athletes participate in the Olympics will no longer be extraordinary. We just have to live longer to see this
.
– .
