A Japanese court has recognized a transgender man's petition to legally change his gender without having first undergone sterilization, after the country's top court ruled the requirement unconstitutional in October.
The plaintiff, 50-year-old Tacaquito Usui, welcomed the ruling from the Okayama Family Court's Tsuyama Branch on Wednesday as "profoundly moving." It is likely to be followed by similar rulings from other family courts deliberating over similar circumstances.
The petition lodged in December was Usui's second, after his first was rejected in 2016 because he had not undergone sterilization.