Japanese School Opts for Flexible Uniform Code to Support LGBT Students

In a move to create a more inclusive learning environment, a public middle school in Chiba prefecture is relaxing its uniform rules so that LGBT students can have more options. Kashiwanoha Junior High School, in the city of Kashiwa, allows students to mix and match its uniform elements from the traditional blazer, tie, Oxford shirt and trousers for boys and a blazer, ascot, Oxford shirt, and skirt for girls. Uniform styles can be chosen regardless of the student’s sex and will be implemented when the school opens for the April 2018 school year.

Traditionally, Japanese school separate boys and girls’ uniforms but after school officials talked over the guidelines with parents, they found the new option to be more in line with modern students.

The staff noted that it is not uncommon for girls to wear pants nowadays, but assigned male at birth students may still feel social resistance to wearing a skirt to school even if that is their preferred choice.

Fujiyoshida’s Fuji Kitaryo High School in Yamanashi prefecture held an experiment called “Sex Change Day” in 2014 that allowed students to wear the opposite gender’s uniform. Participating students received a special lesson on how the change can affect their awareness of their own behavior and those around them, as well as dangers of accepting the “norm.”

Source: Net Lab via Kotaku (Brian Ashcraft)