Japan court rules mandatory sterilisation of people officially changing gender unconstitutional

Judges reject requirement for trans people to remove reproductive organs for state-recognised gender change

A law requiring transgender people in Japan to undergo sterilisation surgery in order to officially change their gender is unconstitutional, the country's supreme court has ruled.

The decision by the top court's 15-judge grand bench was its first on the constitutionality of Japan's 2003 law requiring the removal of reproductive organs for a state-recognised gender change, a practice long criticised by international rights and medical groups.