End “forced sterilisation” of transgender people: HRW to Japan

01, Dec 2017 | CJP Team

In Japan, people wishing to change their legal gender are required to appeal to a family court under Law 111. Under the law, to qualify for a legal gender change, applicants are required to be single, without children under age 20, be diagnosed with “gender identity disorder” and “permanently lack functioning gonads,” The Independent reported The UN and WHO have denounced this requirement, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said “amounts to forced sterilisation”. HRW has called on Japan to “urgently revise” the law, The Independent said. Earlier this year, trans man Takakito Usui unsuccessfully appealed the rule, because he wanted to change his legal gender so he could marry his girlfriend, but did not want to lose the ability to have children. Same-sex marriage is illegal in Japan.