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Japan's Supreme Court upholds transgender sterilization requirement
Those who wish to change their gender on official documents must have their original reproductive organs removed, according to the 2004 law.
Japan’s Supreme Court has upheld a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents.
The court said the law is constitutional because it was meant to reduce confusion in families and society. But it acknowledged that it restricts freedom and could become out of step with changing social values.
[...] [Takakito] Usui, 45, had appealed to the top court after he unsuccessfully requested lower courts to grant him legal recognition as male without having his female reproductive glands surgically removed.
Despite the unanimous decision, presiding justice Mamoru Miura joined another justice in saying that while the law may not violate the constitution, “doubts are undeniably emerging,” according to Usui’s lawyer, Tomoyasu Oyama.
The two judges proposed regular reviews of the law and appropriate measures “from the viewpoint of respect for personality and individuality,” according to Japanese media reports.
[...] Japan does not legally recognize same-sex marriages. As LGBTQ rights awareness has gradually grown in recent years, some municipalities have begun issuing partnership certificates to ease problems in renting apartments and other areas, but they are not legally binding.
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday January 28 2019, @04:17AM (2 children)
Uterus transplants are becoming a reality and there's not really any real reason that they wouldn't work for anyone. First one seems to have been done in June of '31, with the ovary implantation earlier, unluckily the patient got an infection and died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Elbe [wikipedia.org]. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_pregnancy#Uterus_transplantation [wikipedia.org] and a little further down the page for examples of XY people giving birth.
Never say never.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 28 2019, @04:54AM (1 child)
Although it appears to work, the potential surgical complications and expense will be a turn off. Artificial wombs are going to be the real big advance, impacting all people and gender relations by removing the need for any female to carry a child to term. It may result in less complications for a child due to better control over the "fetal environment", although that will have to be studied.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday January 28 2019, @05:05AM
I agree about the complications and expense and am not advocating, just when someone says never, I wonder if it really couldn't happen or has happened.
As for artificial wombs, gestation and birth is very complex and it seems it will need a lot of study. Just things like how important the microbiome is to human health is a recent discovery along with it being a missing thing in none vaginal births as an example.