Historic Japan court ruling allows trans woman to change gender without surgery

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The Japanese Hiroshima High Court ruled last Tuesday that a transgender woman doesn’t have to get gender-affirming surgery to be legally recognized as a woman, marking a first in the country’s history.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Kazuyuki Minami, said she cried with relief over the phone at the results. “My wish since I was old enough to understand has finally come true. I am happy to be freed from the difficulties in life caused by the gender disparity,” the trans woman said through Minami.

Previously, Japan required trans people to get both a gender dysphoria diagnosis and gender-affirming surgery before being allowed to legally change their gender. Under the law, the Act on Special Cases for the Treatment of Gender for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder, the plaintiff, a 40-year-old trans woman from western Japan, was denied a legal gender change due to her not having gender-affirming bottom surgery.

However, she argued in court that this requirement is unconstitutional because…

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