Japans Oberster Gerichtshof erkennt Transgender-Frau als Elternteil an

11 comments

1. *The Supreme Court on Friday recognized a transgender woman as the father of a child she had with her female partner using sperm frozen prior to her transition.*

   *It was the first-ever decision by the country’s top court on whether to recognize a parent-child relationship in a case in which a biological father had a child after transitioning to a woman.*

   *Friday’s ruling by the top court’s Second Petty Bench, which was supported by all four justices, means that the child will be guaranteed the right of inheritance from the transgender woman and the right to claim child support from her.*

   *Presiding Justice Akira Ojima said that not recognizing a parent-child relationship in the case would go against the child’s interest. The previous ruling by the Tokyo High Court had denied a father-child relationship.*

   *The petty bench said whether or not there is a parent-child relationship is deeply connected to a child’s welfare. Such a relationship not being recognized due to a parent changing gender clearly interferes with a child’s welfare and interests, it said.*

   *The woman in her 40s had her first and second daughters with her female partner in her 30s in 2018 and 2020. In November 2018, after the birth of her first daughter, she legally changed her gender.*

   *She applied to be recognized as a parent of the two daughters, but her application was rejected. A lawsuit was then filed seeking such recognition, in which her two daughters were the plaintiffs and she was the defendant.*

   *In February 2022, the Tokyo Family Court dismissed the woman’s claims on the grounds that her transition meant that she was neither a “father” or a birth-giving “mother” as defined by the Civil Code.*

   *While the high court in August the same year recognized a father-child relationship between the woman and the first daughter, it denied such a relationship for the second daughter, who was born after the transition.*

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4. A good small bit of progress 

5. Well there goes my strategy for getting out of child support payments

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7. Interesting that a simple fact of life needs acknowledgment

8. I think this is even more amusing, given Japan’s highly conservative leanings as a whole.

9. Why should her/him gender identity mean anything about parenting?

10. Please note that this decision by the court REFUSED the transgender woman’s request to be recognized as the child’s “mother”. It forced her to be recognized as the “father”, otherwise the child would not get benefits.

    This was not what the parent wanted, and is the default way in cases like this as Japan does not recognize same-sex marriage.

    Social media is strange. Another thread about this exact case framed it as “court refuses to recognize transgender woman as the mother”, and people were criticizing Japan as being backward.

    But in this thread, they are getting praise…?

11. Regardless of how even bigots feel about transgender people, this seems like something so obvious that it shouldn’t need a court ruling.

    This person is a biological parent, why does anyone need to “recognize” it?