A Tokyo man who provided the egg used to conceive his child filed a paternity suit after a ward office rejected a fatherhood acknowledgment because he was legally female at conception. The case tests gaps in Japan’s family law around gender change and assisted reproductive technology.
The lawsuit cites a 2024 Japan Supreme Court ruling that allowed recognition of a transgender woman as father when she provided sperm, but no equivalent legal precedent or statutory provision exists for the reverse scenario.
The case highlights timing conflicts between childbirth, gender recognition procedures, and assisted reproductive timelines that current Japanese law does not fully address.
Trans man in Japan seeks legal recognition as father after providing egg for his child. LGBTQ Nation folyphoto/Shutterstock A lawsuit in Japan is confronting the country's archaic family law, as a trans man seeks legal recognition of the child he fathered with his egg. The couple later submitted a paternity acknowledgment form to a Tokyo ward office that sought legal recognition for the man as the child's father.
Why should that family be denied legal recognition because of a defect in the law or an incorrect application of the law?" she said. "We want to have a society where sexual minorities can have families as a matter of course." The conflict in this case is partly a matter of timing, as it reflects the evolving recognition of transgender rights in the country. Japan's Civil Code contains no provision requiring a father to be legally male, the court said.
Last week, the unnamed plaintiff, in his 40s and living in Tokyo, filed suit in Tokyo Family Court seeking acknowledgment of his paternity, despite the fact that he was still legally registered as female when his egg was fertilized by a sperm donor. Related Historic Japan court ruling allows trans woman to change gender without surgery A month after the child was born to the man's female partner, he was legally recognized as male, and the couple married in February 2025, according to court documents. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Adam Frisby & Jamie Corbett had their daughter through surrogy in the US and faced hurdles to being recognized as her legal parents in the UK.
by Tony Rucinski, Right Times A Westminster Hall debate on Monday will decide whether a birth certificate should record who a child actually came from, or what was merely arranged At 4:30pm on Monday afternoon, in Westminster Hall, MPs will debate a proposal to remove legal motherhood from the woman who gives birth to
by Sanchez Manning and Callum Martin, The Times The majority of single men applying to be the legal fathers of surrogate babies are older than 40, data shows. The Times previously revealed that between 2019, when single people were given the same surrogacy rights as couples, and last year, 170 men made solo parental or
Gay dads Adam Frisby and Jamie Corbett have ended their campaign to change UK surrogacy laws after the Government ruled out immediate reform. The couple, who founded fast-fashion brand In The Style, welcomed their daughter Leven through surrogacy in the US, but when they returned to the UK, they discovered they weren’t
A family court judge has ruled that a woman who was named as a parent on a child’s birth certificate did not automatically acquire legal parental responsibility, meaning she cannot currently apply for a child arrangements order without first getting the court’s permission. The case, Re X (female partner non-acquisition
NCAT found the internal recruitment condition indirectly discriminated against the man, citing panic attacks, sleep disruption and the risk of forced outing. The post Court awards $35,000 after trans man was ‘dead-named’ by employer appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news .
Loading more related stories...
Open the app view to save this story, compare related coverage, and continue from the same source.