Hisashi Burrito: I Sort Of Marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade

I'm proud to say, yesterday I produced this story about the LGBT struggle to be included in the St. Patrick's Day parade. Sadly, it didn't air on our network news, but it was on our cable broadcast and news channels (and online, obviously).

It is quite difficult to produce an LGBT story in Japan, where the overwhelming tendency is to put their head in the sand. Ultimately, I have to be grateful to my colleagues and network for even considering it.

Below, you can find the link to this story on my company's website, and I hyperlinked to it at the top of this post.

If you don't speak Japanese, I took the liberty of typing a rough translation.

(Translation note: I used the term “gay/lesbian group” because in Japanese the word feels more neutral than “homosexual”, and similarly gender-neutral. (同性愛者団体))

As part of my company's online policy, the video will probably only be available for a few days, but I will keep a copy for my own private portfolio. and you can read the Japanese script below the English translation

http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye2447294.html

(Reporter – Kiyoshi Hirata)

“At this parade, shutting down NYC’s 5^th Ave.: coming up next is a gay/lesbian group.”

(Narrator)

On the 17^th, NYC’s 5^th Avenue was colored green by a parade, where this gay/lesbian group marched forward under a banner.

The parade started in the late 18^th century in New York and is named for the Christian patron-saint of Ireland.

Never allowing openly gay groups to participate, saying it went against Catholic beliefs, makes this the first group ever to be acknowledged by the organizers.

Craig Robinson (participant)

(Narrator)

Although they enjoyed applause from spectators, this was the only gay/lesbian group to receive permission to participate.

Other groups who have spent many long years demanding participation were not accepted.

(Member of a group that has applied to march for 26 years)

(Narrator)

The mayor of NYC, who has also called for gay/lesbian rights to openly participate, refused to march as well, saying “At its core, the issue has not yet been resolved.”

The organizers of the parade say “We’ve worked hard to not let the parade be a political platform. This shows our willingness and goodwill toward gay/lesbian groups”

It seems it will take much longer to resolve the complaints surrounding the parade completely.