The Supreme Court of Japan declared a transgender woman as the father of her daughter, who was conceived after the woman’s legal gender change, for the first time on Friday.
In Friday’s ruling, which overturned a 2022 Tokyo High Court decision, the court held that Japan’s Civil Code and other laws do not prevent a woman from establishing a legal paternity claim and that the Civil Code recognizes biological parent-child relationships. The court stated that a father-child relationship can be established regardless of the father’s legal gender, and failing to recognize a transgender individual as the parent of a child is detrimental to the child’s interests as the child would be deprived of receiving support as a dependent. The court also stated that impacts on family relationships should be considered when deciding whether a father-child relationship should be recognized.
The overturned Tokyo High Court ruling previously held that the transgender woman could not be recognized as the parent of her daughter as her daughter was born after her legal gender change. In contrast, the transgender woman’s older daughter, who was born before her legal gender change, was legally recognized as her daughter. DNA tests confirmed that both daughters are the biological children of the transgender woman.
Japan’s judiciary and legislature have both made moves to widen LGBTQ rights in recent years. On March 14, Japan’s Sapporo High Court held that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional because it violated both Article 14 and Article 24 of Japan’s Constitution. This was the first time a High Court in Japan declared the ban explicitly unconstitutional.
This decision followed two legislative moves in Japan addressing LGBTQ rights. In 2022, Tokyo’s metro government began to acknowledge same-sex partnerships, and in 2023, the federal government passed a law to better protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ people.
In addition, on February 7, a Japanese court allowed a gender change to be legally recognized without the need for sterilization for the first time in the country’s history. Japan’s Okayama Family Court Tsuyama Branch ruled in favor of Tacaquito Usui, allowing him to legally change his gender to male without having to undergo sterilization surgery, a controversial requirement struck down in 2023 as unconstitutional by Japan’s Supreme Court.
