Kishida to Fire Aide over Remarks about LGBT People

Tokyo, Feb. 4 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Saturday that he intends to fire Masayoshi Arai as secretary to him over his discriminatory remarks about LGBT people.

Arai told reporters off the record Friday night that he hates to see LGBT people and would hate to see such people live next to him.

He later withdrew the remarks and apologized. But the discriminatory remarks are expected to deal a blow to the Kishida administration.

Arai also said: "If we introduce something like same-sex marriage, people will abandon this country. I asked entire staff at the office of secretaries to the prime minister, and they all said the same thing."

"People are not LGBT because they want to be. We have to support and save them," he added.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]