Japan court approves a transgender man’s request for legal recognition without needing surgery

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A court in western Japan has approved a transgender man’s request to have his gender changed in official records without undergoing sterilization surgery. It’s the first known ruling of its kind since the country’s top court struck down a surgery requirement for such record changes. The Okayama Family Court’s Tsuyama Branch said on Wednesday that 50-year-old Tacaquito Usui could get the gender listed for him in his family registry updated. Usui first applied for the revision five years ago, but the request was rejected. Japan’s Supreme Court ruled in October that a provision of a 20-year-old law that made the removal of reproductive organs a precondition for gender changes in official documents was unconstitutional.