We filed our lawsuit on July 16, 2024, which marks the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Act on Special Cases for the Treatment of Gender Status of Persons with Gender Identity Disorder (Special Cases Act).

Petition

We filed a petition with the Kyoto Family Court requesting a ruling on change of gender status.

We have submitted a petition outlining our claims and ample evidence to support them.

[Procedure summary]

What to ask for

We are requesting a ruling that "the applicant's gender be changed from male to female."

There is no other party. This is a confidential proceeding.

・Points of argument

We will argue that the requirement in Article 3, Paragraph 1, Item 2 of the Special Measures Act, which states that "the person must not currently be married," is unconstitutional and invalid.

・Future progress

The applicant's representative plans to submit supplementary documents in the future.

After that, you can ask the court to schedule a "hearing date" where a judge will hear from you in person. It's up to the court to decide whether or not to do so.

If there is any progress that can be reported, we will update the "Progress" tab in CALL 4 and report it to you.

Press conference held

After filing the petition, a press conference was held in Kyoto City.

【Speakers】

- Applicant: Mr. A, Applicant's wife: Ms. B

・Representative lawyers (from left): Akio Naka, Kaori Mukai, Yoko Mizutani, Ayako Kotobuki, Hirotaka Honda

Kuma, the head of the legal team, and Usaburo, who are supporting this trial, also took the stage.

[Significance of this trial explained at the press conference]

・Protect the daily life of petitioner A, who is already a woman, and the daily life of the couple A and B, who are already living together as a married couple. (Resolve the everyday problems caused by the discrepancy between the actual living conditions and the legal treatment. Eliminate the mental pain of being forced to make the harsh choice of divorcing B in order to resolve the problems.)

By sending their message to society and fighting the lawsuit, they hope to also help resolve the human rights violations suffered by other "married couples in which one partner is transgender" in the same situation.

- By raising the issue of the human rights violation of the non-marriage requirement established for the purpose of "preventing same-sex marriage," we will deepen social awareness of the human rights violation caused by same-sex couples not being able to legally marry, and help achieve marriage equality (same-sex marriage).

- By filing the petition today, which marks the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Act on Special Cases in the Treatment of Gender Status of Persons with Gender Identity Disorder (Special Cases Act), we will raise social awareness of the human rights violations of the entire requirements of the Special Cases Act.

To everyone who has been paying attention and supporting us

We are grateful for the many messages of support we have received since the news of our lawsuit was published.

We are particularly heartened by the voices of hope we have received from transgender people who, like the plaintiff A, are unable to change their gender status due to the barrier of not being married.

We appreciate your continued support.