Mio Sugita | |
|---|---|
| 杉田 水脈 | |
 On 2018 | |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| Assumed office October 23, 2017 | |
| Constituency | Chugoku PR block |
| In office December 17, 2012 – November 21, 2014 | |
| Constituency | Kinki PR block |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 22, 1967 Kobe, Japan |
| Political party | Liberal Democratic Party (2017-present) |
| Other political affiliations | Your (2010-2012) Restoration (2012-2014) Japanese Kokoro (2014-2017) |
Mio Sugita (杉田 水脈, Sugita Mio, born April 22, 1967) is a Japanese politician. She is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and incumbent member of the House of Representatives for the Proportional Chugoku Block.[1]
Sugita has been criticized for her conservative views, including comments against gender diversity and the LGBT community.[2] She spoke out on a streamed program in 2015 that the LGBT community should not receive support from taxpayer's money, and repeated her claim in a monthly magazine piece in 2018.[2][3]
The Kishida cabinet appointed her Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications in August 2022. She has since resigned from this position, because she had no intention of retracting some of her statements and to avoid disrupting administrative affairs, according to Kishida. When interviewed in that capacity, Sugita insisted that she had never dismissed diversity and had not discriminated against sexual minorities.[2]
In December 2022, at the request of minister Takeaki Matsumoto, Sugita retracted and apologized for her past remarks regarding minorities, saying that they had "lacked consideration."[4]
- ^ "杉田 水脈 | 国会議員 | 議員情報 | 議員・役員情報 | 自由民主党". jimin.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved July 26, 2018.
- ^ a b c Ōno, Yukako; Nakajima, Maki (August 24, 2022). "History of sexist, anti-LGBTQ remarks by Japanese vice-minister Mio Sugita". Mainichi Daily News. The Mainichi. Retrieved October 21, 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
mainichi2018-08-07jawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ The Japan Times (December 2, 2022). "Japanese lawmaker retracts past remarks on LGBTQ and other minorities". Retrieved July 3, 2023.