18/07/26 00:01:27.40 +bZnJRkpMFOX.net BE:697536759-2BP(1000)
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(CNN) — A Japanese politician has come under fire for questioning whether LGBT taxpayers should receive equal welfare benefits to the rest of Japan.
Lower House member Mio Sugita called gay couples "unproductive" and wondered whether it was "appropriate to spend taxpayer money from them" in a magazine article published last Wednesday.
Sugita, who belongs to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is no stranger to controversial statements.
She has previously denied the existence of comfort women, victim-blamed the leader of Japan's MeToo movement, and garners more than her fair share of media attention for a junior lawmaker, according to Temple University professor Jeff Kingston.
"Within the party, she's essentially a nobody," Kingston said. "But because of her prominent right-wing views, she gets a lot of media attention."
Sugita's comments have caused an uproar in Japan, prompting politicians to call out the 51-year-old on social media.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama condemned Sugita's article in a tweet, stating "You don't need to make a child for there to be love in the world. I want them (the LGBT community) to live their lives with dignity."
Shunsuke Takei, former parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs and currently Sugita's colleague in the Lower House, tweeted that the politician's article is "not politics but simply hate speech."
According to Japanese media reports, Sugita claimed in tweets that other senior members in Parliament supported her.
The politician has since deleted her tweets, alleging that her article provoked death threats from the LGBT community.
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