Japan’s top court to rule on law that requires reproductive organ removal for official gender change

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Supreme Court will rule Wednesday whether a law forcing transgender people to have their reproductive organs removed in order to officially change their gender is constitutional. Currently, transgender people who want to have their biologically assigned gender changed on family registries and other official documents must be diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder and undergo an operation to remove their gonads. International rights and medical groups have criticized the 2003 law as inhumane and outdated. Japan’s LGBTQ+ community has been hopeful for a change in the law after a local court in an unprecedented decision recently accepted a gender change without surgery.