Photo/Illutration Takakito Usui speaks at an online news conference on Oct. 25. (Arata Mitsui)

The Supreme Court’s ruling on forced surgeries was regarded as epoch-making for transgender people, but the plaintiff in the case was disappointed with the decision.

Although the top court said Oct. 25 that the “sterilization requirement” for a gender change in the family register was unconstitutional, it stopped short of ruling on the “appearance requirement.”

Rather, the justices asked a high court to reconsider the plaintiff’s case, specifically the appearance requirement.

“It is extremely disappointing that I will have to delay changing gender because that was not allowed by the latest ruling,” the plaintiff said in a statement released by her lawyers. “I will be happy if this result leads to movement in a better direction.”

The appearance condition for gender change states that the individual should have genital organs similar to those of the gender the person wants to change to.

Kazuyuki Minami, one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, said, “This is very frustrating because we were unable to obtain the best result we sought.”

But another lawyer noted that three of the 15 justices wrote separate opinions that said both surgical conditions for gender change should be invalidated.

“I do not believe that the final judgment will be that the appearance condition is constitutional,” the lawyer, Masafumi Yoshida, said.

He added that he felt the Supreme Court was sending a message to the high court to discuss whether a law made 20 years ago needed improvements.

Yoshida said the ruling calling the sterilization requirement unconstitutional was very significant because the judiciary finally made a move after many years of doing nothing while people trying to change gender were placed at a great disadvantage.

Takakito Usui, 50, was the plaintiff in the 2019 Supreme Court ruling that said the sterilization requirement was constitutional.

“I am very relieved,” Usui said at an online news conference on Oct. 25. “I have gained a huge backing.”

A transgender man, Usui has not undergone the sterilization procedure because of the health risk involved.

“This (ruling) will allow me to distance myself from having to always worry about surgery in order to change gender. It will allow me to think calmly about how I want to be,” Usui said. “We have the right to live happily with our own body and soul.”

Usui said he was thinking about legally marrying the woman he is living with if he can change gender in his family register based on the latest ruling.

(This article was written by Kyota Tanaka and Arata Mitsui.)

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