Meanwhile On The Other Side Of The Ponds

While the Republicans in the House debate the definition of a woman, the Welsh just expanded the definition of a woman.

Welsh government plans to redefine women to include transgender females
Leaked gender Bill proposals face a backlash from UK Government and rights groups
The Telegraph
By Charles Hymas,
29 October 2023


The Welsh government is to redefine women to include transgender females under planned new laws.

The proposal was revealed on Sunday in a leaked draft of its Gender Quotas Bill which proposes that half the candidates in any list to be members of the Senedd must be women.

For the purposes of the proposed legislation this includes transgender women, the report stated

The definition further stated that transgender meant “a person who is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning [their] sex to female by changing physiological or other attributes of sex”.

It also stated that a constituency returning officer could not challenge or make any inquiry in relation to a statement made by a candidate.

[…]

Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales, has long argued that he believes “transgender women are women”.

Of course the conservatives are hoping made!

“Firstly, it undermines the rights of half of the population of Wales. Secondly, they are hijacking legislation that should benefit women and increase female participation in public life in order to embed a toxic and misogynist ideology,” she said.

“Thirdly, they don’t have the legal powers to push this through anyway and are making a calculated risk that no one will oppose them.

“We are putting the Welsh Government on notice. Women will organise to fight this attack on our rights. This is a first step towards full self-ID in law.

The typical right-wing dribble.

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And on the other side of the western really great pond…

Japan's Supreme Court hands down a landmark transgender rights decision
NPR
By Anthony Kuhn
October 25, 2023

Japan's Supreme Court has ruled that an existing requirement for sterilization surgery for people who seek to legally change their gender is unconstitutional.

The unanimous decision on Wednesday by the court's 15-judge Grand Bench is being hailed by campaigners as a landmark for LGBTQ+ rights in Japan. But as the Supreme Court sent the plaintiff's case back to a high court for further examination, her fate remains unclear.

The plaintiff, identified only as a transgender woman "under 50," had sought to legally change gender in her family registry from assigned male at birth to female. But her request was subsequently denied by lower courts, because she did not undergo sterilization surgery required under Japanese law.

In her complaint, the plaintiff argued the sterilization procedure would impose a physical and economic burden on her, and would deprive her of constitutional rights to pursue happiness and be free from discrimination. Her lawyer argued that her reproductive abilities had already been in "extreme decline" following years of hormone therapy.

Legal gender change in Japan requires a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, being at least 18 years of age, being unmarried and having no underage children.

It also requires the person to have no functional reproductive glands. And it requires that the person's genitals resemble "those of the opposite gender."

I didn’t know how restrictive Japanese laws were, this is a good step but it looks like a lot more work will be needed there!