May 17th is 'Yes to Diverse Sexualities Day'. Hiroshima Renovation Company Maeda Housing Learns Correct Knowledge about LGBT to Enhance Customer Support

May 17th (Sun) is 'Yes to Diverse Sexualities Day,' a day when activities opposing discrimination and seeking understanding are carried out around the world.

On the 7th of the same month, 'Maeda Housing Co., Ltd.' (Naka-ku, Hiroshima; Representative Director: Masatoki Maeda), a renovation company deeply rooted in the Hiroshima region, announced that it held an online 'LGBT In-house Study Session' for employees of its four companies.

The trigger was a proposal from a staff member who handled a client from property search through to renovation last year. When the client told the staff member handling the property window, 'Please do not call me your wife,' the staff member realized their own lack of knowledge.

Our company, which handles renovation, new construction, and real estate, often has couples visit our office, and as there have been other similar instances, we decided to hold this study session in the hope that learning the correct knowledge as a company would allow us to be even closer to our customers.

For this study session, we requested 'Professor Kazuya Kawaguchi of the Faculty of Humanities, Hiroshima Shudo University,' who specializes in sociology, gender, and sexuality in the local area, to act as the instructor, resulting in a lecture lasting about one hour. Over 100 employees attended. The following opinions were gathered in an employee survey after the study session:

'I had heard about LGBT, but didn't have many opportunities to learn about it, even after becoming a student or working adult.'
'I had moments where I was unsure how to face someone when they confided in me that they were LGBT, so this was very educational.'
'When I am actually confided in about being LGBT, I will first accept it with the feeling of thanking them for telling me,' and others.

Currently, 'partnership systems' that recognize two sexual minority individuals as life partners are spreading domestically, and it is said that about 14 municipalities in Hiroshima Prefecture, starting with Hiroshima City, will have implemented 'partnership systems' by the end of 2025. By holding study sessions on a workplace basis as we have done this time, many people can obtain knowledge together, and as a result, I feel it is very important that correct recognition is acquired. I hope that by covering such initiatives in your media, the information will spread to everyone in the region.

Maeda Housing Holdings Co., Ltd.