Japanese court rules surgical requirement to change gender on documents unconstitutional

A Japanese law requiring transgender people to undergo surgery in order to change their gender on documents has been declared unconstitutional.

On Wednesday, a family court in Hamamatsu, a city in the country’s Shizuoka prefecture, ruled in favor of Gen Suzuki, a 48-year-old transgender man who filed a lawsuit in 2021 seeking to change his gender on official documents without having to undergo gender affirmation surgery, the Associated Press reports.

Related: Japanese Supreme Court rules in favor of trans employee in landmark bathroom case

The unanimous ruling came after a trans woman sued the Economy and Trade Ministry for relegating her to the men’s restroom or a far away women’s room.

As Nippon.com notes, a 2004 Japanese law mandates the absence of reproductive organs in order to change one’s gender on official documents, effectively requiring trans people to undergo surgery. The country’s Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that the requirement was “constitutional at this moment.”

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Shizuoka argued that the law was both inhumane and unconstitutional. The court agreed with him, noting that the surgery required under the law would cause irreversible loss of reproductive function, raising questions about the law’s “necessity and rationality.” The court characterized the law as outdated and counter to efforts to create a more inclusive society amid growing acceptance of gender diversity.

“I want children to hang on to their hope,” Suzuki said following the ruling. “I want to see a society where sexual diversity is naturally accepted.”

The ruling sets a limited precedent. But a similar case before Japan’s Supreme Court could set legal precedent nationally. A decision in that case is expected in December.

In July, the country’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a government ministry cannot ban a trans employee from using the women’s restroom at work.

At the same time, Japan also remains the only country in the G7 group of countries that has not legalized marriage equality. According to Equaldex, there are no anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination protections in housing, conversion therapy is not banned, and nonbinary genders are not legally recognized. It describes Japanese adoption laws for LGBTQ+ people as “ambiguous.”