The highest court in Japan has decided that it goes against the Constitution to make people unable to have children anymore before they can legally change their gender.
The 2004 law stated that individuals are allowed to change their gender if they are unable to have children.
The ruling on Wednesday happened because a transgender woman asked the court to reconsider the law.
Human Rights Watch says it’s bad and old.
On Wednesday, the court changed its previous decision and declared that the law, which was previously considered constitutional in 2019, is no longer valid.
Japan is one of 18 countries that make it compulsory for people to have sterilization surgery. This is something that the World Health Organization disagrees with. Canada is the only G7 country that does not have a law allowing same-sex unions.
The woman’s lawyer said that her ability to have children has decreased because of the hormones she has been taking for many years. He also mentioned that surgery would cause her to endure physical pain and could have negative effects afterward.
The family and high court said no to her request before she went to the Supreme Court.
Kanae Doi, the Japan director of Human Rights Watch, said to Reuters that the government needs to act swiftly to remove the clause.
But some groups who did not want the law to be changed said that if people were able to change their gender legally without having surgery, it might make women feel less safe. They also said that it might make things legally unclear.
According to recent polls, more and more people are supporting laws that are friendly towards LGBTQ individuals. However, there are some conservative people and politicians who disagree with these laws.
Recently, a court decided to support a transgender man named Gen Suzuki. He wanted to legally change his gender without having surgery.
The judge in the family court, Takehiro Sekiguchi, said that the existing law goes against Article 13 of the Constitution, which states that everyone should be treated with respect as individuals.