Japan’s top court rules that requiring surgery for legal gender change unconstitutional

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Japan’s top court ruled Wednesday that the surgery requirement for gender change was unconstitutional, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

The judgment came after a lower court said in 2019 that the “sterilization requirement was currently constitutional."

Judges handed down their decision after discussing the “constitutionality of a legal requirement mandating the removal of a person's reproductive organs for a gender change on a family registry.”​​​​​​​

The case was brought by someone who was born a man but identifies as a woman.

The applicant “hoped to change her legal gender without surgery, asserting that her reproductive capabilities have declined following years of hormone therapy,” it said.

But the top court asked the lower court to “reevaluate a requirement related to the physical appearance of genitals that mandates they closely match the gender the individual seeks to change to.”​​​​​​​