Page 5018 - Week 13 - Thursday, 12 November 2009
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Mr Corbell: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1)
As discussed in the 2003 Discrimination and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People in the ACT – Government Report to the ACT Legislative Assembly, ACT legislation defines a ‘transgender person’ through the operation of section 169A of the Legislation Act 2001 (inserted into the Act in 2003) as:
(1) A transgender person is a person who—
(a) identifies as a member of a different sex by living, or seeking to live, as a member of that sex; or
(b) has identified as a member of a different sex by living as a member of that sex;
whether or not the person is a recognised transgender person.
(2) A transgender person includes a person who is thought of as a transgender person, whether or not the person is a recognised transgender person.
(3) A recognised transgender person is a person the record of whose sex is altered under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997, part 4 or the corresponding provisions of a law of a State or another Territory.
It is noted that, in addition to the generally applicable definition in the Legislation Act 2001, the Discrimination Act 1991 defines a ‘transsexual person’ for the purposes of that Act.
There is a tension that arises with the two definitions sitting alongside one another in ACT legislation. However the Government acknowledges the current debate regarding appropriate definition of the sex and gender diverse, and that a variety of terms not confined to ‘transgender’ and ‘transsexual’, are used in this discourse.
(2)
This Government recognises that a variety of terms, not confined to the terms ‘transgender’ and ‘transsexual’, are used to describe people who are sex and gender diverse, as discussed in the Discrimination and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People in the ACT – Government Report to the ACT Legislative Assembly and the Australian Human Rights Commission report Sex Files: The Legal Recognition of Sex in Documents and Government Records.
We acknowledge the debate in relation to the definition of transgendered people, and consider the current wording contained in the Legislation Act 2001 and the Discrimination Act 1991 to be appropriate given this debate. The Government will continue to be responsive to the needs of the community, and will give any submissions in relation to the definition of transgender and transsexual people in ACT legislation due consideration, as and when we are able.
(3)
Both this Government and my Department have considered the possible discriminatory effect of legislation and practice in relation to transgendered people in the ACT following both the Australian Human Rights Commission report Sex Files: The Legal Recognition of Sex in Documents and Government Records and the Yogyakarta Principles: The
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