meow_d

it's actually a huge issue and varies per work! there are lots of yuri/yaoi series that are made by straight authors and (primarily) for straight audiences - often you can tell in that these stories don't have any actual 'queerness' in them despite having same sex relationships.

edit: i remembered having read this recently that has some more info/background https://www.animefeminist.com/feature-is-yuri-queer/

While I'm no source for attitudes strictly in Japan, I see the disconnect between creative work and personal values pretty often in indie spaces abroad often enough (and it's such a whiplash!). So you're not far off the money by any means.

in the last 10 years, a lot of yuri has at least touched on the inability of gay people in Japan to get married (or imagined a future Japan where they can, or paid lip service to civil union certificates in Tokyo/Shibuya/etc). That said, there's absolutely creators whose views on gay marriage are antiquated, and the older the yuri is, the more old-fashioned it gets. If a work is removed enough from the realities of gay life that nobody even says "lesbian", it's basically russian roulette - and most of the time, those are reticent to make any kind of political statement anyway.