TOKYO, Oct 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – An unprecedented ruling by a Japanese court this month is buoying hopes in the transgender community that a national law requiring sterilisation for official gender changes could be struck down by the Supreme Court this week. Japan, the only Group of Seven nation that does not legally recognise same-sex unions, also forces anyone wanting to officially change their gender to have surgery to remove the sexual organs they were born with – a practice Human Rights Watch criticised as “outdated and abusive”. But on Oct. 12, a family court found in favour of Gen Suzuki, a trans man who filed suit demanding to be officially listed as male without surgery, ruling the requirement unconstitutional. “Trans people like me now have a choice,” Suzuki told a news conference at the time. “We want to choose what happens to our bodies ourselves.”