Two WA transmen have won a landmark legal battle to have their reassigned gender recognised without undergoing unnecessary and invasive surgery.
The men, whose names have been suppressed, had both applied to the Gender Reassignment Board of WA for a certificate recognising the reassignment of their gender from female to male, which is required to change identity and legal documents.
Despite testosterone treatment and bilateral mastectomies producing ‘physical changes consistent with being male’, the Board denied the pair’s request due to their remaining female reproductive system.
Both men sought a review of the decision through the State Administrative Tribunal, who released their decision last month.
The Tribunal was satisfied that both men were entitled to a certificate recognising their gender and the Gender Reassignment Board has said that it will abide by the Tribunal’s decision.
The Tribunal found that specific surgical procedures are not mandated by the Gender Reassignment Act, therefore cases of gender reassignment should be decided on a range of factors, rather than on surgeries alone.
‘This arbitrary interpretation of the legislation has developed where transwomen are expected to have full sexual reassignment surgery before they can amend their birth certificate, and transmen are expected to have chest surgery and a hysterectomy,’ explains president of the WA Gender Project, Aram Hosie.
‘I don’t know where those requirements have come from – they’re not in the legislation.
‘Those requirements absolutely are too restrictive, they’re arbitrary and hard to rationalise and they should be dumped, but I’m not sure it’s the legislation itself that is at fault.’
While the two transmen involved in the case are extremely happy with the outcome, the decision is also a win for the transgender community in general.
‘This decision opens the door directly to all the other transmen in a similar situation in WA to get their documents changed, and it presents a legal opportunity to challenge the way similar laws are applied to transmen and women around the country,’ said Mr Hosie.
‘In particular, the decision sets a precedent as to how the Gender Reassignment Act in WA should be applied.’
Despite the Human Rights Commission’s report ‘Sex Files: the legal recognition of sex in documents and government records’, which was released in March, Mr Hosie says there is still work to be done concerning trans rights.
‘There’s a whole lot of other issues that are still outstanding for trans people,’ he said.
‘The two biggest ones would be discrimination protections and access to appropriate and affordable health care.’
UPDATE:
The WA Attorney General, Christian Porter has announced that the State Government will be appealing the SAT decision, saying in a statement that it could have ‘significant and unforeseen effects on the laws of this state’.
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