A family court in Japan has ruled that the country’s laws which require transgender people to undergo surgery in order to be eligible to change their legal gender status are unconstitutional.
The ruling is the first of its kind in Japan and comes as the country’s Supreme Court listens to another case on the same issue.
In 2021, Gen Suzuki, a transgender man filed a court request to have his gender recognised as male without having to undergo a sterilizing surgical procedure which is currently required under Japanese law.
Earlier this month the court responded in his favour with the judge declaring; ““Surgery to remove the gonads has the serious and irreversible result of loss of reproductive function. I cannot help but question whether being forced to undergo such treatment lacks necessity or rationality, considering the level of social chaos it may cause and from a medical perspective.”
Japan’s current laws require people wishing to change their gender to apply to the court, they must have undergone a psychological evaluation, surgery and must also be single and not have any children under the age of eighteen.
The country’s Supreme Court previously looked at the issue in 2019 and decided that the laws did not break the country’s constitution – while also highlighting the need for urgent reform. Now they are considering a case involving a transgender woman who is arguing that being forced to undergo medical sterilization is a process that violates her contstituional right to pursue happiness and live without being discriminated against.
The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision before the end of the year.
OIP Staff
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