A petition signed by almost 3,000 members of WA’s LGBTIQA+ community and allies has been presented to politicians at Western Australia’s parliament.

It calls on Legislative Council to inform itself of discriminatory laws which cause LGBTIQA+ people “preventable harm and disadvantage”, the petition will be tabled in the Legislative Council later today.

Peter Foster, Member for Mining and Pastoral Region, met a delegation of members of LGBTIQA+ advocacy groups and allies on the steps of WA’s Parliament House on Monday to accept a copy of a petition calling for full equality for LGBTIQA+ people.

Foster was joined by The Greens member Dr Brad Pettit, and spoke to representatives from Rainbow Futures, Living Proud, PFLAG+ Perth, and individual community members.

The petition asks the Council to inform itself of the impacts of the current laws, and to legislate to update anti-discrimination protections, ensure trans and gender diverse people can easily update documents for legal recognition without surgery or other invasive treatment and stop anti-LGBTIQA+ conversion practices.

Additionally, it also calls for equal access to surrogacy a stop to medical interventions on people with intersex characteristics without consent, and a whole of government approach to inclusion.

The McGowan government recently received a report on updating the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 and has committed to act on several key recommendations relating to LGBTQIA+ discrimination.

Foster thanked Misty Farquhar of Rainbow Futures and other advocacy groups for their efforts in engaging with the community and the Parliament.

“I am confident that the Equal Opportunity Act reforms already committed to by the McGowan Government is a huge leap forward in the fight against discrimination.” Foster said.

“The petitions process is important to democracy as it allows members of the general public to bring issues of concern, in this case preventable harm and disadvantage to the attention of the Legislative Council.”

“Thank you to the many signatories for raising your concerns with the Legislative Council, and I look forward to engaging further with the LGBTQIA+ community, a community to which I also proudly belong.”

Cynara Miles from PFLAG+ Perth spoke about the need for legislative changes, sharing that many parents of LGBTIQA+ youth were concerned that Western Australia’s current laws were failing to sufficiently protect their children.

OIP Staff

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