Legislation has passed the New South Wales parliament making it easier for people to change the gender on their birth certificate. The new law will allow a person to update their sex on government identity documents without having to undergo surgery.
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00:00This is the largest piece of LGBTQI plus law reform that we've seen potentially ever in
00:09New South Wales, and some of these reforms were really long overdue and basically decades
00:16of work in the making went into this.
00:19Particularly for me, I'm filled with so much hope, particularly when we saw a change of
00:24government last year, I saw the hope on the horizon that this might happen finally.
00:29And in New South Wales, we're quite behind the game we've been up until now.
00:35It's where the last state to do reforms like this when it comes to identity document reforms
00:40for trans people.
00:42And basically in New South Wales, you had to, trans people had to go through really
00:48invasive surgery and a lot of hurdles and administrative burdens just to have identity
00:54documents that affirm who they are.
00:57So it's really inspiring to see that this bill has now made it through parliament.
01:02And I just know that so many people have put a lot of work into this.
01:06Equality Australia, Rainbow Families, ACORN, Rainbow Labor, so many hands and so many people
01:12worked on this for so long.
01:14And it fills me with hope that we finally got to this spot in New South Wales.
01:18And why was this particular provision so important for trans people?
01:23Can you explain for us how traumatic it can be when you came across this previously?
01:27Sure.
01:28So from my experience as well, like, basically, we just, you know, we just want to live normal
01:37lives and be included in society and not have things like identity documents that don't
01:42match us hanging over us.
01:44So in terms of New South Wales, there's that barrier to changing your gender on your birth
01:51certificate that's been there.
01:53And that meant that for a lot of people, if they seek new employment as part of that onboarding
01:59process, they have to show the employer documents like their birth certificate.
02:03No one should have to, if they're not comfortable, be outed as part of that process.
02:08People should be able to seek employment and simply have identity documents and show their
02:13ID without worrying to be outed.
02:17And what do you make of some of the opposition arguments through this process regarding this,
02:22that it could be exploited somehow?
02:25Oh, Joe, it's, it's just ridiculous, like, I've seen the argument that some people in
02:35Parliament put around the other day, basically, that it would somehow change the way people
02:41use bathrooms.
02:42I don't remember the last time I was asked to show my birth certificate when I used a
02:46bathroom. And I don't think you would either or anyone in Australia or probably anywhere
02:52in the world would have had to have shown their birth certificate when they use a bathroom.
02:55So we see this sort of rhetoric from the Andrew Trans Lobby and these groups of people in
03:01that political extreme, they are just trying to find an argument that they can grapple
03:07onto to push us against equality.
03:11And, you know, I think the Australian public don't buy into any of that nonsense.
03:17And even if you look at some of the rhetoric we've seen in the United States lately, there's
03:23just some really ridiculous rhetoric out there that's based on a lot of misinformation and
03:28disinformation. So I think, you know, people having equality and access to identity
03:35documents that affirm who we are, as well as a lot of the other reforms this bill
03:40delivered to simply advance the rights of LGBTQ people and deliver equality in New
03:46South Wales. There's nothing wrong with that.
03:49And look, most people that aren't queer will not be affected by this.
03:54Basically, this means a whole lot for our community.
03:58And if you're not part of the community, it doesn't affect your life at all.
04:02And does it feel like Australia is becoming a more accepting place to live?
04:07Oh, absolutely. Look, I think Australia absolutely is a much more accepting place to live.
04:14But still, there's certainly a lot more work to be done.
04:17One of the things I particularly was inspired about just earlier before I came out and
04:24affirmed my own gender is the last federal election, when there was a little bit of debate
04:30and heat in the public with people in that anti-trans lobby jumping up and down.
04:36The Australian people delivered a resounding rejection of that sort of hate and bigotry.
04:41And if you look at historically where we've come in Australia and New South Wales, like
04:45only a few decades ago, it was illegal to be gay here.
04:49This year, we have seen a historic apology delivered by the New South Wales government.
04:55In the last few years, too, we've seen the prime minister and the premier attend Mardi
05:01Gras for the first time.
05:02And yeah, we've made a lot of progress.
05:05But that progress and that change, that social change, it's not automatic.
05:10We need to continue to push for that change and we need to fight for a better future.
05:14So there's still a lot more work to be done, particularly in things like in New South Wales.
05:18There's still a lot of access that needs to be improved when it comes to health care and
05:23better resourcing for gender affirming care in New South Wales and particularly to at
05:29the federal level, the Medicare system and ensuring that trans health care is available
05:36through that.
05:37Also, anti-vilification laws is another one.
05:40We have made a lot of progress with this bill, but certainly still a lot more work to be
05:44done.