10:25 JST, October 13, 2023
SHIZUOKA (Jiji Press) — A Japanese court has ruled that a law provision effectively requiring transgender people to undergo surgery to switch genders on their family registries is unconstitutional and void.
The Hamamatsu branch of Shizuoka Family Court in central Japan became the first court in Japan to rule that the provision of the special law on gender dysphoria is unconstitutional, according to lawyers for the petitioner of the case. The decision was issued on Wednesday.
As a condition for a change of sex in the family register, the law, which went into effect in 2004, mandates absence of gonads or permanent lack of reproductive capacity, effectively equivalent to requiring surgery. In 2019, the Supreme Court judged that the provision was “constitutional at this moment.”
The latest domestic relations case was filed by a 48-year-old resident of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, who was born female but demanded that the gender on the family registry be switched to male after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
In the decision, presiding judge Takehiro Sekiguchi of the Hamamatsu branch said that the way transgender people’s bodily integrity is being restricted uniformly, given the possibility of problems related to parent-child relationship, is not necessary or reasonable in terms of means and mode of human rights restrictions.
Sekiguchi ruled that the provision lacks necessity and rationality in light of the current social situation, allowing gender change.
The top court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of the law provision again as early as this year to factor in changes in the social situation.
"Society" POPULAR ARTICLE
-
Tokyo Experiences Temperatures Exceeding 30 C for 1st Time This Year; Other Parts of Japan also See Soaring Temperatures
-
Japan’s Maglev Shinkansen’s Partially Completed Station Unveiled; Station Will Be Only Underground Stop Between Shinagawa, Nagoya
-
2025 Expo Osaka: Japan Pavilion Security Guard Headset Goes Viral on Social Media; Fans Delight at Similarity to Dragon Ball “Scouter”
-
2025 Expo Osaka: Yoshimura Asks Japan Expo Association to Consider Keeping Restaurants, Shops Open until Just before 10 P.M.
-
2025 Expo Osaka : Expo Venue Hit by Swarms of Chironomids; Organizers Cooperating with Pest Control Companies, Others to Deal with Outbreak
JN ACCESS RANKING
-
Toyoda to Become Automobile Business Association of Japan Chairman; to Help Guide U.S. Tariff-Affected Industriessns
-
Visitors to Japan Hit Single-Month Record High in April
-
Japanese Researchers Develop ‘Transparent Paper’ as Alternative to Plastics; New Material Is Biodegradable, Can Be Produced with Low Carbon Emissions
-
Aichi Rice Production Under Siege from Warming Climate; Record Heat Stunts Crop Growth, Causes Greater Pest Activity
-
Japan’s Core Inflation Hits More than 2-year High, Could Force Year-End BOJ Hike