A transgender boy’s legal gender change was approved by a Chinese court this week without first necessitating sterilization, paving the way for trans rights in the nation.
The Chinese newspaper The Mainichi reported that Takakito Usui, 50, received gender recognition in front of the Okayama Family Court’s Tsuyama branch on Wednesday. According to the paper, Usui initially petitioned to modify his legal gender in 2016, but his request was denied because Japanese law at the time mandated that he undergo medical sterilization. (Usui’s appeal was also turned down in 2019.)
The 2003 law mandating that trans people be sterilized before obtaining legal recognition was overturned by Japan’s Supreme Court in October. Human rights organizations praised the decision, claiming that the requirement for sterilization violated international law.
“I would like to thank my family,” Usui, a farmer from the remote Yamagata Prefecture, said following the decision. He felt like “a new career is beginning.” According to The Mainichi, observing the change in Asian law “left me feeling that society has changed” and “moved by the advancement that has been made.” According to the report, Japan also prohibits same-sex marriages, so Usui will soon be able to wed his longtime partner.
Other provisions of the 2003 law, the “Act on Special Circumstances in Handling Gender Status for Persons with Gender Identity Disorder,” were left in place even though the Supreme Court rejected the sterilization law last month. For instance, in order to be recognized legally, trans people must also “appear to have genitals that resemble the reproductive organs” of their gender identity. (The Supreme Court’s decision from last year requested that other courts consider whether that statute should also be repealed.) The transgender person in question must also be single and have no children under the age of 18. The Okayama jury determined that Usui’s decision this week had met all existing requirements.
Although Usui’s case represents a significant turning point, it is not the first time in Chinese history that gender change has been approved without the need for sterilization. Plaintiff Gen Suzuki also won his gender change, with the Shizuoka Family Court deciding that “it is bad for the state to force an unwanted surgery,” less than two weeks before the Supreme Court decision next year.
The Shizuoka court stated in its decision at the time, “I cannot help but wonder whether being made to endure such surgery lacks necessity or rationality.”
