TMCnet News
Court allows man with gender identity disorder to change his name+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SAPPORO, Feb. 13_(Kyodo) _ The Sapporo High Court has recognized a claim by a man with gender identity disorder who sought to be allowed to assume a woman's name in his family register, court officials said Monday. Yoshitomo Yamaguchi, 51, a married man of Makubetsu in Hokkaido, has been living as a woman for about 10 years, and has called himself Yumi, a woman's name, for about three years. In handing down the ruling, Presiding Judge Susumu Suenaga said, "We recognize that (Yamaguchi's) work and daily life are inconvenienced as the name he uses on a daily basis and his registered name are different. Thus, changing his name is beneficial and is legitimate." In July last year, the Kushiro Family Court's Obihiro branch dismissed Yamaguchi's petition to change his name, saying that he did not have a doctor's certificate proving he suffers from gender identity disorder. He filed the petition with the family court again in November, but the court once more dismissed it, saying that there was scope for confusion if both he and his wife used female names. |