Bill to Introduce Fictional Birth Certificates Presented to Qld. Parliament

Jackie Turner, Equality Australia's star birth certificate campaigner, has told SBS News that their birth certificate has been "a source of anxiety, [and] confusion."  

"The threat of being outed… is an ongoing stress for me," Turner said to the national broadcaster, before supplying a photo published with the article.  

Turner who has featured prominently in Instagram videos admitted that they had been able to update their "gender" on other forms of identification.  

The photo supplied by Turner to SBS to acompany comments about Turner’s ‘outing’, which makes one wonder if there is a difference between ‘outing’ and ‘long jump.’

"I already have female on my passport, Medicare, and marriage licence," they said.  

The legislation proposed in Queensland will remove the requirement to undergo surgery in order to change the gender on a birth certificate.  

A birth certificate records the sex of an infant, observed at birth, usually by medical professionals. It is not a work of fiction, subject to editing and redrafting until the publisher is happy.  

"It feels great to have laws coming into place that are actually focused on recognising trans people for who they are," said Turner, who was observed to be male at birth.  

LGB Alliance Australia’s view is that surgery, or any other medicalisation, should not be required for trans people to obtain documents proving their identity.  

Queensland

Queensland attorney-general Shannon Fentiman said the bill aims to strengthen legal recognition of trans and gender-diverse Queenslanders. "In developing the bill, we have carefully considered the experiences of LGBTIQ+ stakeholders, the difficulties they face and the recommendations they made in order to get these reforms right. Quite simply—we listened and this bill is the result," she said, in a barefaced fit of obfuscation.  

Fentiman has refused to meet with lesbians and women's groups in Queensland to hear their concerns about the proposed legislation.  

Scotland 

The question of how societies are to manage identity problems, and their effects on women in social and other settings, is raging in parliaments around the world. Most recently, in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has been embroiled in a politically painful and embarrassing drama over her government’s plans to change how the nation ‘recognises’ gender.  

“To make it easier for people to legally change their sex, the first minister is pushing through reforms that many believe would compromise women’s safety. Last week, Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, wrote to Sturgeon to warn her it would be open to abuse by male sex offenders, endangering women and girls,” Sonia Sodha said in The Guardian.  

Western Australia 

The Western Australian government is currently promoting 16 days to think about what it calls “gendered violence,” and at the same time contemplating reforms that many believe will increase risk of violence to actual women by actual men. In what appears to be a case of government trolling its own people, the 16 Days in WA campaign page contains a resources reading list that includes Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men, by Caroline Criado Perez, exposing how “in a world largely built for and by men, we are systematically ignoring half the population.” 

Screenshot of WA’s non-fiction reading list suggestions for the 16 Days in WA campaign.

By Justin Ian and volunteer writers