Proposed reforms under the Equality Legislation Amendment Bill include permitting gender transitioning without surgery and protections for intersex children from unnecessary medical intervention.
Legislative changes would also make it a domestic violence offence to ‘out’ or threaten to ‘out’ an LGBTQI partner, complete the decriminalisation of sex work as well as removing an exemption that allows private schools to discriminate against LGBTQI teachers and students.
The laws have already seen some early success with a ban on gay conversion practices passing parliament’s upper house in March to criminalise the so-called therapy with a penalty of up to five years in jail.
Industry and advocacy groups met to throw their support behind the reforms during a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday.
Equality Australia chief Anna Brown said the bill addresses multiple inadequacies in the law and would enable LGBTQI people to be “treated equally under many laws for the first time”.
Brown welcomed the proposal to permit gender transitioning without surgery, describing current requirements to undergo gender reassignment surgery in order to change one’s birth certificate as “unnecessary and outrageous”.
“NSW is the last place in Australia to require surgery on a person’s reproductive organs in order to update a gender marker on a birth certificate,” she said.
Many trans and gender diverse people are therefore unable to access ID that matches their identity, leaving them vulnerable when they apply to work, study or even open a bank account, she said.
“Those people are living life in the identified gender that they are identifying as .... why should they have to be forced by the government to (undertake gender reassignment surgery) in order to change their birth certificate?” Brown said.
“That’s outrageous.”
NSW Teachers Federation Branch acting general secretary Mel Smith also quelled concerns, confirming the proposed laws would not ban religious teachings, preachings or private prayer that related to people’s sexuality.
Smith said support was, however, lacking in schools for LGBTQI students and teachers, particularly in regional and remote areas.
“We don’t get any training in relation to supporting LGBTQIA+ students,” she said.
Brown dismissed concerns that the proposed legislation would impact on women’s ability to access ‘women’s only spaces’.
“It really is a bit of a furphy or distraction to say that this legislation somehow has an impact on the ability to access spaces when that’s already unlawful to discriminate or refuse service against a person based on their transgender status or their gender identity,” she said.
Public Interest Advocacy Centre director Alastair Lawrie said any birth certificate changes would be simply bringing NSW into line with what already exists in most other Australian jurisdictions.
“Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland at the ACT have done so for some years and have done so without creating undue difficulties,” he said.
Enacting the reforms will require major party support.
AAP
