※The famously gay-friendly Sonin, backstage after the event.
Novelist Ira Ishida and TV personality Sonin, regular hosts on “Haato O Tsunago”, have become familiar to viewers of the program as the only straight, but very LGBT-friendly, personalities on the program. One highlight of watching the show is seeing its “common majority” hosts become minorities, even if just for two hours.
Incidentally, the Tokyo Pride event just happened to fall upon the one year anniversary of the very first broadcast of the gay & lesbian themed episode of “Haato O Tsunago”. Prior to that first show, neither of the two hosts had even met an out lesbian and it has been interesting to hear over the course of the program how their opinions and points of view have changed. As Sonin began to sign autographs over a break during taping, fans swarmed to her side, obviously delighted to meet one of the LGBT community’s more widely known allies.
In the following videos, Tokyo Wrestling talks to Ishida and Sonin about the live taping, the current situation facing LGBTs in Japan, changes in their personal perceptions of LGBTs and their favorite part of the Tokyo Pride Festival. Don’t forget to check out their messages to TW readers, too!
