【News Citation】
In a lawsuit filed by a METI employee in her 50s with gender identity disorder, who is male under her family register but lives as a woman, demanding that the government improve her treatment because she was unfairly restricted from using the women’s restroom, the 3rd Petty Bench of the Supreme Court ruled on November 11 that the METI’s restriction was illegal and that the employee could use the women’s restroom.
This is the first time that the Supreme Court has given its judgment on the work environment for sexual minorities. This could have an impact on the development of workplace environments in the public and private sectors.
The plaintiffs sought relief from the National Personnel Authority (NPA) to have METI remove the restrictions, but the NPA ruled in 2015 that there was no problem with METI’s handling of the case. In contrast, the Tokyo High Court (May 2009) ruled that the restrictions imposed by METI were reasonable and that the National Personnel Authority’s decision was legal, and the plaintiffs lost their case.
The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the second trial and ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and since the decision of the first trial is now final, the National Personnel Authority’s decision will be reversed and METI will be forced to review its restrictions.
The plaintiff, who was diagnosed with gender identity disorder after entering the ministry as a man in 1999, told her supervisor in 2009 that she wanted to work as a woman, and although she was allowed to make up, change clothes, and use the changing rooms, she was asked to use the women’s restroom on a floor at least two floors away from her workplace.
【Citation】
【Personal opinion】
From Yahoo News comments and other sources on this news, it seems that many people are negative about the Supreme Court’s decision.
○The plaintiff has not undergone gender reassignment surgery and is registered as a male. He should use the men’s restroom or the multipurpose restroom.
○Why does he insist on using the women’s restroom when he can use the multipurpose restroom?
○Women’s restrooms are private rooms, and there is a risk of being pushed into a private room and being the victim of a crime.
○If you say, “I am a woman at heart,” you can enter the women’s restroom. In the future, it will be harder for women to complain when men enter the restroom. The reason is that they may claim that they are transgendered.
○The court’s decision may have given an endorsement to men who are not transgender or anything else to enter the women’s restroom.
○I worry about my young daughter and can’t let her go to the bathroom by herself.
★I will give my personal opinion on this matter at a later date.
