In 2015, Sugiyama made an appearance on the Japanese Culture Channel Sakura television program "Hi Izuru Kuni Yori" where he was shown agreeing with views shared by Japanese politician Mio Sugita who claimed there was no need for LGBT education in Japanese schools, as well as dismissing concerns about high suicide rates among the community. Sugiyama added that the lack of children born from LGBT couples was an important topic to discuss, also suggesting that Japan was more empowering to women than South Korea. He later recanted his statement by saying that LGBT couples have existed throughout human history and he supports the use of governments to occasionally help them.