We spend a lot of time dealing with issues surrounding the social contagion of transgenderism in the United States and Europe, but Japan has been dealing with the topic as well. They came up with a rather unique (if partial) solution a couple of years ago. The government relented and allowed the gender-confused to change their gender on their official records and documents, but only after they had genital surgery to remove their reproductive organs first. As you might expect, requests for transition paperwork plummeted. But one man who wanted the government to recognize him as a woman but didn’t want to have his bits removed brought a lawsuit in objection. The lower courts initially ruled against him, but today the Supreme Court of Japan overturned those rulings and reversed the ban. (Associated Press)
Japan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a law requiring transgender people to have their reproductive organs removed in order to officially change their gender is unconstitutional.
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-recognized gender change, a practice long criticized by international rights and medical groups.
The case was filed by a plaintiff whose request for a gender change in her family registry — to female from her biologically assigned male — was turned down by lower courts.
The judge who penned the ruling stated that the reason for the finding was that the requirement to have surgery was unconstitutional, but offered no further details. I’ll confess that I am unfamiliar with the Japanese constitution and Japanese law in general, but what specifically would be unconstitutional about such a requirement? Then again, I’m struggling to think of a parallel here in the United States. We have laws that forbid surgery in some cases such as requirement for informed consent for cosmetic surgery (which is what this is in reality) and parental consent for minors to have similar procedures done. But we don’t place surgery as a requirement for any legal proceeding that I’m aware of.
Interestingly, this change is taking place in Japan at the same time that same sex marriage is still illegal. Gay couples can apply for a “partnership certificate” that allows them to rent a place to live, but formal marriage is not recognized. Japan is a very traditional society in that sense, but now they appear to be extending more rights to transexuals than to gay people, which just seems strange.
I began wondering how Japan handles the issue of males wanting to be incarcerated in female prisons. At least as of 2017, the answer was no, but their prisons are set up a bit different than ours. A male who was undergoing hormone therapy and “living as a woman” was sentenced to prison and asked to be supervised by a female guard. That request was allowed, but he was not mixed in with female inmates. Just to show you how tough their system is, he got 18 months for shoplifting.
It may not be allowed in Japan, but this sort of dangerous precedent has already been established in the United States and it has threatened to go national. California passed SB 132 in 2021 and it allows male prisoners to request a transfer to a female prison not only without surgery, but without hormones or even having “lived as a woman.” Democrats tried to do the same thing nationally with The Equality Act and it actually passed the House twice. Thankfully it never made it through the Senate.
For a time, I had been hoping for a resurgence of common sense and respect actual science in our country. We have seen some progress on that front, particularly in the defense of women’s sports. But in other areas, not so much. And now it appears to be spreading globally. It’s disturbing to say the least.
