Victorians to choose gender on birth certificate without surgery

Victorians will now be able to pick gender on their birth certificate without having surgery.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Attorney-General Jill Hennessy. Picture: AAP.

Victorians who want to identify as a different gender to the one recorded on their birth certificate will no longer be required to have gender reassignment surgery in order to change the sex listed on the document, under laws being introduced by the Andrews government.

The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment Bill 2019, to be introduced into state parliament today, will allow applicants to self-nominate the sex listed in their birth registration as male, female, or any other gender diverse or non-binary descriptor of their choice.

The move will change current laws requiring individuals to undergo surgery before their birth certificate can be altered.

Attorney-General Jill Hennessy said everyone deserved to live their live as they choose, which included having “a birth certificate that reflects their true identity.”

“The current surgery requirement sends a painful and false message that there is something wrong with being trans, gender diverse or intersex that needs to be ‘fixed’ — that’s why we’re removing this cruel and unfair barrier, Ms Hennessy said.

Victoria’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages will be able to refuse to register a gender descriptor that is obscene or offensive, or not reasonably established as a sex descriptor.

Children will also be able to apply to alter the sex recorded on their birth certificate, with parental support and a supporting statement from a doctor, registered psychologist or another prescribed person confirming that the decision is in the best interests of the child.

Ms Hennessy said current laws required trans and gender diverse Victorians to “out” themselves whenever a birth certificate was requested, causing embarrassment and raising privacy, safety and discrimination concerns.

“Overturning the current requirement for an individual to undergo sex affirmation surgery before changing their birth certificate recognises that some trans and gender diverse people are unable to, or choose not to, undergo a serious, expensive and invasive medical procedure,” Ms Hennessy said.

This is the second time the Andrews government has presented the bill to state parliament. Last time, it was voted down.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the key question was whether a birth certificate reflected the sex of a person at birth or how they identified themselves.

“We don’t know if it’s going to be exactly the same bill (as last time) or a different bill or slightly different, so we’ll see the detail and then we’ll make a reasoned decision,” he told reporters.

Father Tony Kerin, the Catholic Church’s Episcopal Vicar for Life, Marriage and Family, said the church did not “approve or appreciate” the reform. “When it comes to gender, we stick with the science, we count chromosomes,” he told ABC radio.

Additional Reporting: AAP