Japan's top court strikes down required sterilization surgery to officially change gender

Source: Associated Press

Japan’s top court strikes down required sterilization surgery to officially change gender

BY MARI YAMAGUCHI
Updated 10:20 AM EDT, October 25, 2023

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a law requiring transgender people to undergo sterilization surgery in order to officially change their gender is unconstitutional, a landmark verdict welcomed by advocates as a sign of growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights.

The ruling by the top court’s 15-judge Grand Bench applies to the sterilization portion of the 2003 law only. It does not address the constitutionality of requiring gender-transition surgery in general to obtain a state-sanctioned gender change — a requirement also criticized by international rights and medical groups.

The law forces those who seek a gender change a “cruel choice between accepting the sterilization surgery that causes intense bodily invasion and giving up important legal benefits of being treated according to their gender identity,” the Supreme Court said.

The decision, which requires the government to reconsider the law, is a first step toward allowing transgender people to change their identity in official documents without getting sterilized. But it was not a full victory for the claimant because the Supreme Court sent her case back to the high court to further examine the requirement for gender-affirmation surgery.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/japan-lgbtq-transgender-ruling-gender-change-decdbdca9c8dd3658ae86b63ec40c53d