I love Japan, but I find it extremely disturbing that until the ruling being sterilized was a mandatory requirement of changing one's gender. Good that they removed something so odious, but it...
I love Japan, but I find it extremely disturbing that until the ruling being sterilized was a mandatory requirement of changing one's gender. Good that they removed something so odious, but it makes you wonder what else is on the books there. For a country that I used to think was somewhat progressive, I've learned in recent years that successive governments there have had a very dim view of LGBT folks.
This is unfortunately not a particularly unique thing to Japan. Many Western countries used to require sterilization as well. The European Court of Human Rights only ruled against forced...
This is unfortunately not a particularly unique thing to Japan. Many Western countries used to require sterilization as well. The European Court of Human Rights only ruled against forced sterilization for gender recognition in 2017 and at the time it was mandatory in 22 European states. France and Belgium only got rid of their mandatory requirement for sterilization in response to this ruling. Finland refused to do so in response to this ruling and only removed their requirement for forced sterilization this year. Czechia, Latvia, and Romania still require it. And of course that's not even touching on countries like Hungary that straight-up don't allow it at all, or all the other invasive medical and psychological examinations required to change one's legal gender even without the forced sterilization requirement.
Very happy to see the precedent. I hope their Supreme Court backs it up with their ruling in the other case mentioned.
Followup: Japan's Supreme Court hands down a landmark transgender rights decision
I love Japan, but I find it extremely disturbing that until the ruling being sterilized was a mandatory requirement of changing one's gender. Good that they removed something so odious, but it makes you wonder what else is on the books there. For a country that I used to think was somewhat progressive, I've learned in recent years that successive governments there have had a very dim view of LGBT folks.
This is unfortunately not a particularly unique thing to Japan. Many Western countries used to require sterilization as well. The European Court of Human Rights only ruled against forced sterilization for gender recognition in 2017 and at the time it was mandatory in 22 European states. France and Belgium only got rid of their mandatory requirement for sterilization in response to this ruling. Finland refused to do so in response to this ruling and only removed their requirement for forced sterilization this year. Czechia, Latvia, and Romania still require it. And of course that's not even touching on countries like Hungary that straight-up don't allow it at all, or all the other invasive medical and psychological examinations required to change one's legal gender even without the forced sterilization requirement.