Japanese PM: Disallowing Gay marriage not "unjust discrimination"
Following a meeting with activists and an apology to LGBTQ people, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is being criticized for backtracking, in light of his latest comments saying that constitutional freedom of marriage only applies to heterosexual couples.

"I don't think disallowing same-sex couples to marry is unjust discrimination by the state," he said when asked about it by an opposition lawmaker. This contrasted with his comments after the aforementioned meeting, when he said that he "strongly felt the need for discussion" and would consider what they had told him.

With criticism mounting, Kishida insisted that "I do not have a sense of discrimination [on the issue]. And I have never stated I'm against it."

Activists have continued to pressure the Japanese government to pass equal rights measures before the G-7 summit, which Japan is hosting in Hiroshima in May. Conservatives in Kishida's governing Liberal Democratic Party are most often blamed for dragging their feet, even as surveys have shown public support for same-sex unions.

Section on Trans people featured in new Bangladeshi textbook
On January 1 this year, Bangladesh's National Curriculum and Textbook Board released a textbook with a section on Trans people, depicting them in respectable jobs like a beautician, a development worker, and a mayor. It also includes a short story about a child who transitions.

The book will be read by millions of students between the ages of 11 and 13, and the board hopes it will foster greater acceptance in a country where many Trans people live in poverty, and are forced to beg or turn to sex work to survive.

So far, the response to the section has been positive in some areas. "I think they are human beings just like us," said 12-year-old Fatiah Alam, a student attending Gomail High school in Dhaka. "We came to know about them by learning from the book. We think we should help them with their progress."

However, also in Dhaka, conservative Muslim groups protested the inclusion of Trans people at the city's main mosque.

One leader in the Trans community, Jonak, told Reuters, "If our story catches people's attention and they keep our suffering in mind, that will be good for us. Those who learn more about us will hopefully understand and then work towards our development in the future."