Japan Court Rules Against Government Agency That Barred Transgender Worker from Using Women’s Bathroom

In a historic, unanimous decision, Japan’s high court ruled in favor of a transgender woman who was barred from using her workplace’s women’s bathroom.

The woman, whose name is not public, is in her mid-fifties and employed by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). 

She transitioned in 2008 but it was not until the following year that she requested to use the women’s bathrooms at work. Her employers said yes – but only if she used a bathroom two floors away, a decision they claimed to make out of concern for her other female colleagues, according to the New York Times. 

This began a years-long process of petitioning authorities, in a country where LGBTQ rights lag behind peer nations. 

Japan is the only G7 country to not recognize same-sex marriage. Fewer than 14 percent of employers let transgender workers use bathrooms that match their gender identity, according to the Times.

The woman first filed a request through an agency that oversees the rights of civil servants, according to CNN. 

When that request was rejected, she took her case to the Tokyo District Court in 2015. After three years, the court ruled in her favor and ordered her employer to pay her 1.3 million yen (around $9,300) in damages. 

The decision was then overturned in 2021 by the Tokyo District Court, and the plaintiff appealed to the nation’s Supreme Court. 

In June, she argued to the court that not being able to use women’s bathrooms was damaging to her dignity and broke the law, according to CNN. 

The Supreme Court’s decision to rule in her favor is final and cannot be appealed. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, said in response to the ruling that the government would strive to create a more accepting culture.

“We will firmly work to achieve a society where diversity is respected, and everyone, including those who are members of sexual minorities and those in the majority, value each other’s human rights and dignity and enjoy a vibrant life,” he said, according to the Associated Press.