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Queensland plans to make it easier for people to change the sex on their birth certificates.
Currently, if people in the state want to change the gender on their birth certificates, they would have to undergo reassignment surgery.
However, the state Labor government’s new plans, which are expected to pass comfortably, will remove the requirement for surgery.
They would also allow new parents not to list any gender on their newborn baby’s documents.
Queensland plans to allow new parents to not have to list any gender on their newborn baby’s documents
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government is the latest Australian state to make gender optional on birth certificates, after Tasmania became the first in 2019.
Queensland’s new law means NSW is the only state that still requires people to have reassignment surgery before changing birth certificates.
One of the main motivations for the law change is the cost of reassignment surgery, which is not covered by Medicare and could cost around $80,000.
If the new plans are approved, several other changes will also go into effect.
Children over the age of 16 will soon be able to legally identify themselves as a different sex without parental consent, needing only a supporting statement from an adult who has known them for at least a year.
Meanwhile, children ages 12 to 15 will require parental permission to change their birth certificate.
However, they can still apply to the courts if their parents do not support them.
Queensland will also not require a medical statement from a doctor or psychologist, something that is required in Western Australia and has already been adopted in South Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory.
Despite supporting the plan, the Queensland Law Society warned that changes in gender could lead to trouble in court.
Law Society President Kara Thompson said: “We are seeking further clarification on how identity verification processes should be managed in the absence of a sex descriptor appearing on a person’s birth certificate, where current procedures refer to ‘genre'”.
“Without further consideration of the distinction between the two concepts (sex and gender), especially as applied in the current Queensland law book, there may be unintended consequences arising from the implementation of the bill in its current form. “.
Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government is the latest Australian state to make gender optional on birth certificates, after Tasmania became the first in 2019.
Sally Goldner, a spokeswoman for the LGBTIQ lobby group Just Equal, said the reforms would reduce invasion of privacy and reduce stress.
“Reform makes life fairer and easier for trans and gender diverse people and reduces the invasion of privacy and the stress of not having to constantly ‘tell your story’ to complete strangers,” she said. the aussie.
However, critics say that self-identification would affect the right to privacy in women-only spaces, such as bathrooms, locker rooms and prisons.
The Australian Christian lobby says the bill is: “out of step with community expectations about parental rights and women’s safety.”
“This situation does not pass the ‘pub test’ and is seen by many in the community as controversial and dangerous,” the lobby’s Queensland political director Rob Norman wrote in a presentation.
‘Queenslanders have every right to challenge the granting of biological men access to women-only spaces. This is neither transphobic nor irrational.’
Queensland Attorney General Shannon Fentiman criticized groups who “will try to cover up their transphobia under the guise of women’s safety.”
“I want to be clear: there is no evidence, nationally or internationally, to support these outrageous claims,” he said.
“I note that the Australian Psychological Society has warned against undue suspicion of an individual’s motives for declaring a particular sex.”