The Pride House Tokyo Legacy, an information centre for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and other identifying people, will open its doors next month before the city’s planned staging of the Olympics in 2021.
The facility will be available to use for free and will have books and materials for LGBT people as well as space for counselling. It is set to open on October 11 in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward after previously being planned to open in the summer.. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed to 2021 – and this in turn gave Pride House Tokyo Legacy more time to organise its new building.
“We decided to open it earlier after some people told us that it’s tough to spend time inside the house with a family who have no understanding,” said Gon Matsunaka, head of the Pride House Tokyo Consortium.
“We want to make this a place for those young people.”
The consortium is made up of individuals, companies and non-profit groups. The Pride House movement was launched during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics by local non-profit organisations, to promote the existence of sexual and gender minority groups in sport.