Japan court approves gender change without confirmation surgery

HIROSHIMA (Kyodo) -- A Japanese high court on Wednesday approved an official gender change for a transgender woman who has not undergone confirmation surgery as legally required, in a rare decision.

The clause requiring gender confirmation surgery "is suspected of being unconstitutional," the Hiroshima High Court said, adding that following hormone therapy the genitals of the petitioner, who was assigned male at birth, resemble those of a woman.

It is extremely rare for a gender change to be approved for male-to-female transition without gender confirmation surgery, such as through removal of the testicles.

The high court approved the gender change for the petitioner in reexamining the case sent back by the Supreme Court.

The top court, in a landmark ruling in October, said that another legal requirement for a person's reproductive organs to be removed to register a gender change was unconstitutional, but it said the high court should revisit the clause on gender confirmation surgery.

The petitioner is a resident of western Japan who has only disclosed her age as younger than 50.

The law for people with gender dysphoria, which came into force in 2004, stipulates five conditions for those wishing to register a gender change, in addition to a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from at least two physicians.

The five conditions are that an individual be no less than 18 years old, unmarried, have no underage children, have "no reproductive glands" or possess reproductive glands that "have permanently lost function," and possess "a body that appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs of those of the opposite gender."

The high court decision could add pressure on the government to review the clauses requiring surgery, legal