Japan’s top court backs transgender woman in bathroom case, says restriction ‘unacceptable’

In a landmark verdict, the Japanese Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 11) ruled in favour of a transgender woman, saying restrictions put on using women’s toilets at her workplace were “unacceptable”.

What was the case about?

The case was filed by a woman in her 50s, who cannot be named for privacy reasons, against her employer, the Ministry of Economy and Trade. The official who was assigned male at birth, sued the government after she was told to use women’s toilets two floors below her office, as opposed to the ones closer to her.

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A Tokyo District Court, in 2019, ruled in favour of the employee and called the restrictions unlawful. However, the decision was reversed in 2021 by the Tokyo High Court.

The plaintiff said that being barred from using the female toilets near her “deeply hurt” her and violated the country’s law which protects state employees against loss or damage in the workplace.

The woman was diagnosed with gender dysphoria around 1999 when she was already a government employee. However, it was not until a decade later that she told her supervisor she wished to dress and work as a woman, and her request was approved.

The arguments

The government officials argued how their move was justified and cited a lack of “public understanding” toward transgender people for using the facilities of their declared gender.

However, the plaintiff’s team argued that no female employee had raised any concerns about sharing the toilet. It is also worth noting that the plaintiff has not changed her legal gender, but otherwise lives as a woman.

In Japan, transgender people can only legally change their gender if they have undergone gender reassignment surgery, while the current law effectively requires them to be surgically sterilised. The plaintiff told the court that she was unable to undergo the procedure due to health reasons.

Japan’s Supreme Court ruling considered landmark for LGBTQ+ rights

The verdict of this case was the first one that the Japanese top court delivered on the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and experts say that this could change how public and private sectors deal with sensitive questions on women-only spaces.

The decision has been seen as a step forward for the country’s LGBTQ+ community and their rights as Tokyo is the only G7 nation which does not provide legal protection for same-sex unions.

In its ruling, the court found the decision to restrict the transgender woman from using nearby toilets was “extremely lacking in validity”. It added that the move “overly accommodated other employees and unjustly disregarded how the plaintiff might be disadvantaged.”

“We will carefully examine the ruling and take appropriate measures after consulting with the relevant ministries and agencies,” said the ministry, after the verdict, in a statement. It added that it will make efforts to respect the diversity of its staff.

(With inputs from agencies)

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