Simon Corbell has announced the government’s response to the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council’s report ‘Beyond the Binary: legal recognition of sex and gender diverse people in
the ACT’
Recognising that the old certainty that men are men and women are women doesn’t recognise the vast grey areas in between the response offers to major reforms:
Major reforms to be implemented in response to this report include:
– changes to the BDMR Act on birth of an intersex child; and
– abolition of the requirement that a person undergo sexual reassignment surgery before being allowed to change their sex on their birth certificate. This requirement will be replaced with criteria that are consistent with the recent High Court decision in AB v State of WA.
Simon explains it thusly:
“Sex and gender diverse people regularly experience discrimination and barriers when applying for legal records or documents that acknowledge sex or gender identity because many systems, even some laws, are simply not designed for anyone beyond the standard male/female categories.” Mr Corbell said.
“The ACT Government is proposing reforms to overcome these barriers, and will seek to remove sexual reassignment surgery as a requirement for changing a person’s registered sex.
“References to sex and gender diverse people will also be progressively amended in legislation and data collection practices by public authorities to ensure accuracy and consistency, aiming to break down any linguistic barriers to legal recognition.
“The Government will extend the time allowed for registration of the birth of a child, including their sex.
“This will address time pressures faced by parents of intersex babies, where decisions about registration of the child’s sex can be complex, and require time to let parents get information and make necessary decisions.”
Loading ...
There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand gender diverse people, and those who don’t.
Holden Caulfield said :
What a great steaming load of binary.
“The ACT Government is proposing reforms to overcome these barriers, and will seek to remove sexual reassignment surgery as a requirement for changing a person’s registered sex.”
Ah, only the ACT Government would be game enough to decide to change what truly defines a persons gender.
“Sorry luv, I know it looks like a cock but really I’m a girl. Let the scissoring begin.”
PBO said :
Unless I’m misinterpreting your comment, isn’t that exactly what you’ve done? The presence of external genitalia isn’t the sole determination of sexual identity. Pretty much exactly what the report and Corbell’s response was saying.
PBO said :
Obvious troll is obvious. And maybe oblivious.
To me, this raises the question of why we have “sex” listed on birth certificate (or other places/identification) at all. Is it because gender is important, or is it because it is a physical characteristic which can help with identification (and pretty much the only one other then age which actually can be recorded for an infant)?
‘Cause if it is needed for issues of identity verification, then this proposed change to the law is insane and makes no sense.
If it is just there because it always has been, but isn’t really important – why not remove it for everyone?
p1 said :
And there lies the problem. It is indeed needed. But this makes things difficult for the gender diverse.
it just says which chromosomes you have
if you have a Y chromosome you get an M, if you have 2 X’s you get an F
Ah, the ACT Government conquering the real important issues.
Solidarity said :
Sadly it’s really not that simple.
p1 said :
Only reason I can think of is for Marriage- a celebrant has to sight the birth certificates of both members of a couple so they can establish that they’re of age and (current) gender requirements.
p1 said :
A simple explanation of why it’s on the birth certificate might be that it’s there for population statistics and research, including gender specific birth mortality rates or number of female vs male births.
Of course, that information could be recorded separately, but do we really want a gender neutral record of our birth? I respect a person’s right to change or specify their sexual / gender identity as they see fit, but aside from hermaphroditic birth, do newborns really need to be classified outside of the standard M/F?
Positive move IMO, it costs nothing and will make life easier for a lot of people.
Haters be damned.
johnboy said :
how else do you tell? a vast majority of baby boys won’t grow up to identify as female.
some will and vice versa, but that’s got nothing to do with being a baby. babies ain’t got time fo dat. too many things to look at and fingers to gum at.
c_c™ said :
I am not against anything which makes people lives easier and more equitable. I’m just not sure that the gubermint is going about this the correct way.
Perhaps re-issues of birth certificates for everyone should just not include that box if requested once you are an adult? The box on birth certificates issued for infants could be changed to “sex at birth” – hopefully that will solve all the problems except the one for marriage celebrants – an a simple minor change to marriage laws would solve that in a jiff.
Whether one sits or stands to wee or pee would be a good starting point…
p1 said :
This is a good idea, because it actually attempts to address the issues at hand.
Notice that your ACT drivers licence doesn’t have a gender on it. This was changed in the 90′s because of the same reasoning as above. Yet, it’s not really been an issue so far has it?
p1 said :
Wasn’t referring to your comment, which was about practical considerations and raise a valid question.
PBO said :
Nonsense. Passports Office dealt with this problem two years ago without drama.