New laws mean transgender people can change the sex on their birth certificate without undergoing surgery from today
- The change in the law has been welcomed by transgender rights campaigners
- It means people can change their birth certificate without having costly surgery
- Children can also change their listed sex, but with parental consent and a doctor
- It brings Victoria in line with existing laws in Denmark, the UK and New Zealand
Transgender Australians will be free to change the sex listed on their birth certificate without having undergone reassignment surgery from Friday.
Its means people who are transgender, or gender-diverse, in Victoria can make the change, which campaigners have called a ‘momentous’ step forward for trans rights.
The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill, introduced by the state government, passed in August 2019 and comes into effect from now.
It removes the ‘cruel and unfair’ requirement for transgender people, or anyone who doesn’t identify with the sex on their birth certificate, to undergo sex reassignment surgery before changing the form.
The change also allows people to self-nominate as either male, female or other non-binary descriptions.
British singer Sam Smith (pictured at Sydney’s Mardi Gras on February 29) recently came out as gender-fluid, which means you don’t identify as either male or female
Similar laws already exist in the United Kingdom, Denmark, New Zealand, Argentina and some US states.
Those under 18 will also be allowed to alter the sex listed on their birth certificate, but most have support from their parents and a statement from a doctor.
Campaigners fought for the change, saying that some people either cannot afford the costly surgery, or simply do not want to have it.
‘These important new laws are about ensuring everyone can live their life as they choose, and that includes having a birth certificate that reflects their true identity,’ Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said at the time.
People in Victoria can change their birth certificate without undergoing sex change surgery (pictured, the Tiwi Island transgender community at Sydney’s Mardi Gras in 2017)
‘The current surgery requirement sends a painful and false message that there is something wrong with being trans or gender-diverse that needs to be “fixed” – that’s why we’re removing this cruel and unfair barrier.’
New South Wales and Queensland are now the only states where someone needed to undergo sex change surgery to change their birth certificate.
Greens leader Samantha Ratnam also welcomed the reform, writing on Twitter: ‘A momentous night as birth certificate reforms pass the upper house of Vic Parliament.’
Tasmania also voted to make sex optional on birth certificates and allow someone to change sex by signing a statutory declaration.
Animal Justice Party upper house MP Andy Meddick, who has a 20-year-old transgender son Eden, rejected a suggestion from Melbourne 3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell the change would be purely symbolic.
‘No, it’s not symbolic. For people who are transgender this means everything in the world to them,’ he said.
Mr Meddick, whose transgender son revealed his gender dysphoria at age 14, said a birth certificate was more than a piece of paper.
‘For them, when they go to get a driver’s licence, the driver’s licence doesn’t reflect who they are. When they go to get a passport, it doesn’t reflect who they are,’ he said.
‘They feel isolated, they feel separated from the rest of the world.
‘This is another way, it makes us more inclusive as a society that we recognise that these people are who they are and they’re part of us and we love them and we support them.’
Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick (pictured), who has a 20-year-old transgender son Eden, rejected a suggestion that the change would be purely symbolic