Japan court strikes down law requiring sterilisation to officially change gender in landmark verdict

Landmark verdict now paves the way for queer persons to have their gender changed on official documents without surgery

People attend the Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2023 Parade in Tokyo on 23 April 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Japan’s Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a legal clause requiring transgender people to undergo sterilisation to officially change their gender.

Under the 2004 law that was struck down on Wednesday, transgender people who wanted to have their biologically assigned gender changed on legal documents must be diagnosed as having Gender Identity Disorder and undergo an operation to remove their reproductive organs.

The judges unanimously ruled that the part of the law requiring the loss of reproductive functions for a gender change is unconstitutional, reported Kyodo News. The landmark verdict now requires the government to revise the law, paving the way for queer persons to have their gender changed on official documents without surgery.

Several rights groups welcomed the decision as they urged the government to follow up.

"The government is under the obligation to make any laws constitutional so the government now needs to act quickly to remove the clause," said Kanae Doi, Japan director of the Human Rights Watch. "It’s late, but never too late.”

Deputy chief cabinet secretary Hiroshi Moriya told a regular press conference on Wednesday that the government will "examine the decision closely and respond appropriately".

Japanese law stated that people who want to change gender must present a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and meet five requirements.

Those requirements included being at least 18 years old, not being married, not having underage children, having genital organs that resemble those of the “opposite gender”, and having no reproductive glands or ones that have permanently lost their function.

The plaintiff, identified as a transgender woman under the age of 50, had moved the court in 2000, arguing that the last two requirements violated a person’s constitutional right to pursue happiness and live without discrimination, and posed significant physical pain and financial burden to transgender people.

It was, however, denied by both the family court and high court before she approached the Supreme Court. Some opposed the law, arguing that being allowed to change their registered gender without surgery could lead to women feeling unsafe.

"This decision was very unexpected and I’m very surprised," the plaintiff said in a statement read out by her lawyers after the verdict. She added, however, that she was "disappointed" that a decision on the other clause had been postponed.

"The issue that there are people who have to suffer the incongruity between one’s own gender and the legal status of one’s gender, as well as the problems of living in such a society, remains unsolved," said the plaintiff’s lawyers – Kazuyuki Minami and Masafumi Yoshida – after the ruling.

Rights groups and the LGBTQ+ community in Japan have been hopeful for a change in the law after a local family court, in an unprecedented ruling earlier this month, accepted a transgender male’s request for a gender change without compulsory surgery, saying the rule is unconstitutional.

The special law that took effect in 2004 states that people who wish to register a gender change must have their original reproductive organs, including testes or ovaries, removed and have a body that "appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs" of the new gender they want to register with.

More than 10,000 Japanese have had their genders officially changed since then, according to court documents from the 11 October ruling that accepted a transgender man’s request for a gender change without the required surgery.

Additional reporting from agencies