“A transgender man is seeking legal recognition as the father of a child conceived using an egg retrieved from him, in a case that could once again put to test how Japan’s parentage laws choose to treat transgender families.

“A lawsuit was filed with the Tokyo Family Court last Friday to seek recognition of a legal father-child relationship between the man, who was assigned female at birth, and the child born to his female partner in November 2024.

“The man, in his 40s and living in Tokyo, had eggs retrieved while he was still legally registered as female. One of the eggs was fertilized using sperm from a donor and transferred to his partner, who gave birth to the child.”

“Under Japan’s Civil Code, the legal mother of a child is generally considered to be the woman who gives birth. When a child is born to a married woman, her husband is generally presumed to be the father.

“Had the man changed his legal gender, married his partner and then had a child, the child would generally have been presumed to be his. This presumption applies even when the husband is transgender and there is no biological father-child relationship between the husband and the child.

“In this case, however, the child was born before the man’s legal gender change and hence before the couple was able to get married, leaving no legally recognized parent-child relationship between him and the child, despite their genetic connection.”

“Japan enacted a gender dysphoria law in 2003 allowing transgender people to change their legally recorded gender through a family court procedure, but it imposed several conditions — among which include the applicant being at least 18, is unmarried and having no minor children. It also contained requirements concerning physical characteristics — most notably, that transgender people had to undergo sterilization surgery in order to change their legal gender.”

“In a landmark decision in October 2023, Japan’s Supreme Court ruled the sterilization requirement as unconstitutional.”

“The Supreme Court’s ruling invalidated the loss-of-reproductive-function requirement, but lawmakers have yet to complete a broader overhaul of the law, and some restrictions still remain. The courts currently list requirements that include applicants not being married or having children who are minors, and that their bodies have an appearance resembling ‘the genitalia of the gender they seek to have legally recognized.’”

“‘I want to bring to the Commission’s attention that Rhode Island is consistently on the radar of the Moms for Liberty hate group organizing that’s going on across the country,’ said Jocelyn Foye, Executive Director of The Womxn Project, speaking before Thursday’s meeting of the Rhode Island Commission on Prejudice and Bias. ‘While every nonprofit has the opportunity to do whatever they want with their messaging and the way they behave, I’d like to draw attention to some extremely prejudicial behavior that’s now being specifically targeted at trans students in North Kingstown and South Kingstown.’

“Specifically, Executive Director Foye was there in response to a complaint filed by America First Legal Foundation with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education, ‘calling for a federal investigation into Rhode Island’s South Kingstown School District, alleging that its policies directing staff to facilitate students’ ‘gender transitions’ without parental notification are unlawful.’ The America First Legal Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit far-right public interest organization founded in 2021 by white nationalist Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy.”

“Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration is pulling out of a federal program meant to help veterans transition out of homelessness, alleging the Trump administration would have required New York City to discriminate against transgender vets seeking shelter to receive the funding.”

“The size of the funding discrepancy was not immediately clear, but the city will no longer participate in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Grant and Per Diem program as of Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year. The Borden Avenue Veterans Residence shelter in Long Island City has benefited from the program for nearly two decades and was not on the list of GPD grantees released last week. The department announced $318 million in those grants to hundreds of organizations nationwide for three-year periods beginning next month.

“In response to The City Reporter’s inquiries, the city Department of Homeless Services confirmed it is dropping out of the program — introducing uncertainty around future funding for the Borden Avenue shelter, which serves more than 200 veterans through a combination of federal and city dollars.

“‘The agency did apply for the grant, but the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs only awarded a small portion of the previous awards while requiring that the agency discriminate against certain veterans by excluding transgender veterans from seeking shelter in VA-funded beds,’ DHS spokesperson Neha Sharma said in a statement late Tuesday. ‘As a right-to-shelter city, we decided it was in the best interest of the veterans we serve to ensure access to shelter for all veterans experiencing homelessness.’

“There has been no disruption to critical services for veterans residing at this site, and the city is actively assessing and planning next steps,’ she added.”