Court rules it’s OK to limit transgender woman’s choice of toilet

A Japanese court ruled Thursday that it was legal for the trade ministry to impose restrictions on a transgender official’s use of the women’s restrooms.

Overturning a lower court decision that ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the Tokyo High Court said that limits on which restrooms the official can use could not be considered “unreasonable” as the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry “sufficiently took into consideration” her concerns. The official was born male and has been living life as a woman.

However, the high court did order the government to pay damages of ¥110,000 ($1,000) to the official, citing her superior’s remarks that she should return to being a man.

The official was medically diagnosed with gender dysphoria after she started work at the ministry. She began wearing women’s clothes at her workplace after explaining her gender identity to her colleagues in 2010.

But she was told to use the women’s restrooms on a different floor away from her department because some colleagues were reluctant to use the same toilet booths, according to the Tokyo District Court lawsuit.

The district court in December 2019 ruled it illegal for her workplace to limit her use of the women’s toilets, saying “the right to live life based on his or her gender identity is an important legal interest, and that placing constraints on that is unjustifiable.”

The lower court then ordered the government to pay a total of ¥1.32 million in damages.

It was the first court ruling in favor of a plaintiff suffering from workplace discrimination due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to her lawyers.

The ministry does not restrict toilet choice for those who have changed their gender on the census register. However, a prerequisite for the change is undergoing sex change surgery, which the official did not undergo due to health reasons.

In 2013, the official asked the National Personnel Authority, which protects the interests of government officials, to resolve the situation but her request was rejected. She filed the lawsuit in 2015.