Anjelica Jarrett is the LGBT+ rights program coordinator at Human Rights Watch.

When I was a sophomore in 2014 at Mount Holyoke College, a women’s college in Massachusetts, our college president announced that transgender women would be able to join our student body. I and the other students who had assembled to hear the president speak met this announcement with applause. Finally, our college would open its doors to all women who wanted to learn.

Around the world, education institutions are leading the way on trans rights and inclusion – and Japan is no different. But now, the government needs to update its laws. The spotlight is currently on Japan due to its hosting of the upcoming Olympics, and activists are urging Japan to implement a federal LGBT+ non-discrimination law.

Over the past few years, LGBT+ rights have gained political momentum in Japan, but laws continue to lag behind. Four major universities have already announced they will allow trans women to attend as women based on a self-declaration model. There aren’t specific campus policies for trans men, but Human Rights Watch research found they were in a similar predicament. An 18-year-old trans man university student in Okinawa said: “I’m happy like this [without surgery]. But I think I might have to do more operations and fully transition before applying for a job.” Read more via Reuters