Japan's Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to require citizens to be sterilized before they can officially change genders. Shockingly, the law (passed in 2004) said people could only change their gender if they have no reproductive capacity. The ruling came after a transgender woman filed a petition challenging the law.
Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) had called the law "abusive and outdated". It celebrated the ruling, calling it an "important victory" for transgender rights in Japan. "This judgement upholds the rights to health, privacy and bodily autonomy of trans people in Japan," Kanae Doi, Japan Director at HRW told the BBC. "It follows years of advocacy and litigation to remove this abusive... requirement." The ruling reverses a shameful 2019 verdict by the court which found the same law constitutional.
Japan is one of 18 countries that mandate the sterilization surgery - a requirement that is also opposed by the World Health Organization. It is still the only Group of Seven (G7) nation that does not legally recognize same-sex unions.
The woman's lawyer had argued that her reproductive ability has already been diminished by years of hormone therapy, adding that surgery entailed physical suffering and the risk of after-effects. Her request was denied by both the family and high court before she approached the Supreme Court. But some groups opposed to the law being changed had argued that if people were allowed to change their registered gender without surgery, it could result in women feeling unsafe. They also argued that it could cause legal confusion.
Recent opinion polls have shown growing support for LGBTQ-friendly laws - although there continues to be opposition from conservative sections of society and politicians. Earlier this month, a local family court ruled in favor of a transgender man - Gen Suzuki- who requested to have his gender legally changed without undergoing the surgery. The family court judge, Takehiro Sekiguchi, said the current law violated Article 13 of the Constitution that stipulates all people shall be respected as individuals.
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