Japanese Supreme Court rules in favor of trans employee in landmark bathroom case

In a historic decision for trans rights, Japan’s Supreme Court has ruled that a government ministry cannot ban a trans employee from using the women’s restroom at work.

The unanimous ruling came after a 50-something trans woman – who chose to remain anonymous – sued the Economy and Trade Ministry for relegating her to the men’s restroom or a women’s bathroom two floors away. The thinking behind allowing her to use a women’s room on a different floor was that she would not run into her coworkers there. The ministry was reportedly trying to prevent her coworkers from feeling embarrassed.

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She didn’t feel supported after coming out and would like to leave the trauma behind and focus on being a voice for young women and queer people.

The court called the restrictions “extremely inappropriate,” as well as an “abuse of power” that was “unjustly neglecting the plaintiff’s inconvenience” while being overly considerate to the other employees (there had reportedly never been a complaint from a coworker).

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“All people should have the right to live their lives in society based on their own sexual identities,” said the anonymous plaintiff after securing her victory. “The significance of that should not be reduced to the usage of toilets or public baths.”

“Even if awareness is lacking among the public, the administrative branch must promote understanding and prohibit discrimination,” added her lawyer, Toshimasa Yamashita. “The government now must deal with the workplace environment more appropriately to protect the rights of minorities.”

According to ABC News, this is the court’s first-ever ruling on working environments for LGBTQ+ people.

Japan still has a long way to go before LGBTQ+ people have legal protections.

Right now, trans people in the country cannot legally change their gender without undergoing gender-affirming surgery. According to Equaldex, there are no anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination protections in housing, conversion therapy is not banned, and nonbinary genders are not legally recognized. It describes Japanese adoption laws for LGBTQ+ people as “ambiguous.”

Japan also remains the only country in the G7 group of countries that has not legalized marriage equality. 

But in June, a Japanese higher court found that the country’s lack of marriage equality is unconstitutional, something another higher court had already concluded as well.

Two other rulings, however, have found the ban constitutional. Nevertheless, the rulings in favor of LGBTQ+ couples adds pressure on the Japanese parliament, the National Diet, to legalize same-sex marriages.

The body was expected to pass a comprehensive LGBTQ+ rights bill before the 2021 Olympics, but the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a conservative political party in control of both chambers of the legislature, refused to pass the legislation, saying it went “too far.”