The sterilization of people prior to legal gender transition has been found unlawful by Japan's Supreme Court.
According to the 2004 legislation, a person cannot change their gender if they are incapable of reproducing.
Following the filing of a petition contesting the law, a transgender lady received Wednesday's decision. Human Rights Watch (HRW), a rights organization, described the law as "abusive and out-of-date."
(Photo: by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images) In this picture taken on June 21, 2023, transgender woman Minori Tokieda uses an LGBTQ-friendly toilet, which is intended to defy traditional gender-based segregation, in an office building in Tokyo. A courtroom win and new anti-discrimination law could be seen as signs Japan is warming to the protection of LGBTQ rights. But activists warn of a dark side
It hailed Wednesday's decision as an "important victory for transgender rights in Japan" and praised it, according to BBC.
The decision overturns the court's 2019 decision that the identical statute was constitutional.
One of the 18 nations, including Japan, that forbid the sterilization procedure is the World Health Organization. It is also the only country in the Group of Seven (G7) that does not recognize same-sex unions under the law.
The woman's attorney had claimed that years of hormone medication had already reduced the woman's capacity to conceive and that surgery would result in physical pain and the possibility of side consequences.
Before going to the Supreme Court, her motion was turned down by the family court and the high court. However, several organizations opposed to the law's modification said that allowing people to change their recorded gender without surgery may make women feel insecure. They further suggested that it may lead to ambiguity in the law.
A Rise in Support for the LGBTQ
Despite criticism from politicians and groups associated with the conservative part of society, recent surveys have shown a rise in support for policies that are tolerant of LGBTQ people.
Gen Suzuki, a transgender man, was granted his request to have his gender officially altered without undergoing the procedure earlier this month.
Takehiro Sekiguchi, the family court judge, claimed that the present law broke Article 13 of the Constitution, which states that all persons must be valued as individuals.
Since then, more than 10,000 Japanese people have formally altered their genders, according to court records from the Oct. 11 decision.
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A Common Thing
According to the Shizuoka verdict, the majority of the 50 European and Central Asian nations with laws enabling persons to alter their gender on official records do not require surgery to remove sex organs. It highlighted that altering one's gender in this manner has grown commonplace around the world.
Many LGBTQ+ persons still conceal their sexuality out of fear of harassment at work and in schools in a society of conformity where the conservative government adheres to conventional paternalistic family values and is unwilling to accept sexual and familial diversity.
Some organizations opposed to greater acceptance of transgender persons, particularly those who transition from being designated male at birth to female, filed petitions with the Supreme Court on Tuesday urging it to maintain the necessity for surgery.
For same-sex couples to overcome obstacles in renting apartments and other areas, hundreds of towns now offer partnership certificates, although these are not legally enforceable.
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