Legal Supreme Court rules sterilisation for gender change unconstitutional

While rights group welcomed the verdict, a decision by the judges to ask a lower court to deliberate on a separate clause, requiring that the genital organs of people who want to change their gender resemble those of the opposite gender, was met with disappointment. "This decision was very unexpected and I'm very surprised," the plaintiff, identified only as a transgender woman under the age of 50, said in a statement read out by her lawyers. She added, however, that she was "disappointed" that a decision on the other clause had been postponed. Some lawmakers and women's groups in socially conservative Japan had said a ruling that challenged the existing law would sow confusion and undermine women's rights. The supreme court threw out a similar attempt to scrap the sterilisation requirement in 2019.

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