A law requiring transgender people in Japan to be sterilised to change their legal gender has been ruled unconstitutional by Japan’s supreme court.
The court said on Wednesday, that the sterilisation requirement imposed by the 2004 law “restricts a person’s free right not to have their bodies invaded against their will.”
The practice has been long criticised by international rights and medical groups.The decision comes after a petition was filed by a transgender woman whose request to change her gender on her family registry was rejected by the family court and high court.
The ruling, which requires the government to reconsider the law, is a first step towards allowing transgender people to change their identity in official documents without getting sterilised.
Under the 2004 law, transgender people who wanted to undergo gender-confirming surgery were subjected to a list of criteria. Some of the conditions included being unmarried and being sterilised or infertile.
The woman's lawyer said the requirements infringed on her constitutional rights and posed a significant physical suffering.
Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW), that had had called the law "abusive and outdated", celebrated Wednesday's ruling, calling it an "important victory for transgender rights in Japan".
Kanae Doi, Japan’s director of HRW, told Reuters news agency: "The government is under the obligation to make any laws constitutional, so the government now needs to act quickly to remove the clause. It's late but never too late".
The ruling reverses a 2019 verdict by the court which deemed the sterilisation requirement constitutional.
Some conservative groups opposed the change and said if people can change their registered gender it would result in women feeling unsafe.
The decision also comes after LGBTQ+ activists in Japan have been pressuring the government to pass an anti-discrimination law.
In July, Japan passed the Promote Understanding of LGBTQ people seeking to "avoid unfair discrimination."
Japan still remains the only country in the G7 to not recognise same-sex marriage.
