A Japanese court has ruled that a child born after a transgender woman has gone through her surgical and legal transition should not be legally recognized as her child, according to local media.
Japan requires anyone who wants to legally change their gender to have surgery to remove the sex organs they were born with, a practice harshly criticized by human rights groups.
The trans woman, who was considered male at birth, had two daughters before her transition with her partner, who was preserved using sperm, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News Agency reported.
Four years ago, she was legally allowed to change her gender in her family register, the reports say.
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Although her partner was recognized as the girls’ legal mother for having given birth to them, a family court in Tokyo in February denied the trans woman’s application for parental status.
The woman appealed the verdict, saying that “currently nothing in Japanese law recognizes her parental rights.”
On Friday, the Tokyo High Court ruled that she could be recognized as the parent of the daughter born before her legal gender change, but not the second born after. Further details were not initially available.
Japan remains the only G7 country not to recognize same-sex marriage.
In June, a Japanese court ruled that a ban on same-sex marriages was not unconstitutional, setting back LGBTQ+ rights after a court found the opposite in 2021.