Japan Airlines to omit the term 'ladies and gentlemen', to use gender-neutral greeting

From October 1 onwards, the Japanese airlines would omit the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” onboard flights and would use a gender-neutral greeting to promote inclusivity.  JAL would discontinue the gender centric airport announcements and in-flight address from next month and would instead use only  “good morning” and “good evening”, according to a local report by Japan's daily Mainichi Shimbun. The airlines would be the first to abolish the sexist expressions and opt for greetings applicable to the LGBTQ+ and gender-neutral community travellers. 

While Japan’s governance hasn’t introduced a law that recognizes same-sex marriages, the airlines’ decisions come with respect to the wide array of customers that fly with it, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens. JAL even flew an LGBT Ally Charter plane exclusively for the same-sex flyers to show solidarity and tolerance towards its customers. According to an Amnesty International report, in recent years, Japan has witnessed a fairly satisfactory treatment towards the LGBT community. Japan has also decided to open a Pride House, Japan's first permanent such centre, on October 11, 2020, to raise awareness of LGBTQ rights ahead of Olympics 2021.

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Anti-discrimination legislation

While many lesbian, gay bisexual and transexual persons have, from time to time, met with the discriminatory treatment and homophobia in public, many in Japan have come out with gender confirmation in the public domain in recent years. Japanese have even demanded the administration to introduce comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation to provide equal protection against discrimination in all areas and on all grounds. Although, many prominent brands and firms in Japan now have a more neutral stance towards sexual orientation and gender identity. Although, Japan still remains as one of the seven nations in the world that refrains to provide the legal recognition to same-sex partners, while at least 29 countries have passed laws in favour of the LGBTQ community’s human rights. 

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(Image Credit: Twitter/@JAL)