Legal Supreme Court rules in favour of trans woman and daughter

In a landmark decision, Japan's Supreme Court has overturned a previous high court verdict, affirming the legal parent-child bond between a transgender woman and her younger daughter, who was conceived with the woman's preserved sperm before her gender transition and born to her female partner. This ruling, a first of its kind, acknowledges the woman as the 'father' of the child, ensuring the child's rights to support and inheritance are safeguarded, aligning with the child's welfare and interests. The ruling corrects the earlier Tokyo High Court's stance that only recognized the woman's relationship with her elder daughter, born before her legal gender change, thus unifying the legal status of both siblings as her children.

The woman applied for recognition as a parent of two daughters at a local government after switching from male to female in 2018 between the two births but was rejected. The family then sought a legal remedy, filing a lawsuit with a Tokyo Family Court in 2021, but the court did not recognize the woman as a parent for both daughters. Japan does not recognize same-sex marriage. The country's law on gender dysphoria requires surgery to remove a person's reproductive capabilities to register a gender change, but a top court decision in 2023 said that was unconstitutional.

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