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Human Rights Watch's 84-page report, "'The Nail That Sticks Out Gets Hammered Down': LGBT Bullying and Exclusion in Japanese Schools," examines the shortcomings in Japanese government policies that expose LGBT students to bullying and inhibit access to information and self-expression.

It claims that Japanese schools are filled with "hateful" comments about gay and transgender people, including from teachers, which aggravates bullying and drives some students into depression.

"Hateful anti-LGBT rhetoric is nearly ubiquitous in Japanese schools, driving LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) students into silence, self-loathing and, in some cases, self-harm," the report says.

 Based on interviews with more than 50 LGBT students and former students in fourteen prefectures throughout Japan, as well as teachers, officials, and academic experts.

The report documents bullying, harassment, and discrimination in Japanese schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, and the poor record of schools when it comes to appropriately responding to and preventing such incidents.

One such case study is 20-year-old Sachi N from Nagoya, who said: "'In the world there are some weird people,' my high school health teacher said to introduce the lesson. Then she said sex between boys was the main cause of AIDS so we should stay away from homosexuals. That was the only time I heard about LGBT people from a teacher—except when I overheard them making gay jokes."

The report also finds that the the Japanese government has failed to institute effective anti-bullying policies and that school staff are not trained to deal with LGBT students, nor are they held accountable for their actions.

The report says that the state of LGBT in schools amounts to a failure of Japan's international human rights commitments with regard to educational content about sexual orientation and gender identity.

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