In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled as “unconstitutional” a clause in domestic law that requires transgender people to undergo sterilization surgery to change their gender assigned at birth in their family registry.
It was the first time the Supreme Court judged the clause as being unconstitutional, after the case was filed by a transgender woman who has not undergone surgery. Advocates hope the decision will pave the way for a legal revision allowing transgender individuals to change their legal gender without having surgery, a move that would put Japan in line with international standards.
The Grand Bench, composed of 15 judges, presided over the case — an unusual event given that such proceedings occur only a few times a year, if at all.
The 2003 law regarding people with gender dysphoria sets out five requirements for them to have their legal gender status changed through family court proceedings — in addition to a diagnosis of gender dysphoria by at least two medical doctors. The person is required to be age 18 or older and unmarried and cannot have underage children.
The requirements in dispute are the remaining two conditions mandated by the law, which say the individual should “have no reproductive glands” or that their reproductive glands should have “permanently” lost their function, and that they should have “a body that resembles the genital organs of those of the opposite gender.”
Information from Kyodo added