Queer Liberation Boorloo has welcomed the government’s long-awaited announcement on gender reassignment reforms.
“The reforms will undoubtedly make it easier for queer people to amend their records to accurately reflect who they are and improve access to equal opportunity protections.” said the group’s spokesperson Alex Wallace (pictured).
“Grassroots pressure and a united front among activists works.” they added.
While the abolishment of the Gender Reassignment Board has been labeled a huge win for people who are transgender, activist have noted the proposed legislation does meet changes introduced in some other states.
“The reforms fall short of the community’s call for a Statutory Declaration model as detailed in Rainbow Futures WA’s submission to the Government on the reforms.
“The legislation also falls well short of the Darlington Statements call to remove sex and gender from birth certificates entirely, which Queer Liberation Boorloo wholeheartedly advocates.” Wallace said.
“We are also disappointed to hear that the Government has abandoned their promise to reform the Equal Opportunity Act, in this term of government.
The group shared their concern that leaving the reforms until after the 2025 elections creates uncertainty with the make-up of parliament being unknown.
Queer Liberation Boorloo have called on the Cook government to “completely remove medical gatekeeping from the gender recognition process.”
The group would also like to see take quicker action on equal opportunity law reform and provide protections for transgender people “without a so-called ‘gender history.'”
Action on banning conversion therapy practices, introducing anti-vilification laws to protect all minority groups, and implementing all the recommendations of the Darlington Statement are among the actions the group is calling on the government to take.
The Darlington Statement, which was released in 2017, is a consensus statement from members of the intersex community on required legal reform for people who are intersex.
Western Australia’s Attorney General John Quigley has claimed that action cannot be taken on the state’s Equal Opportunity laws because the federal government is planning to adjust their laws.
The claim has been disputed by rights activists who argue that federal plans to do prohibit the WA government from making changes to state laws.
Update 17-04-24: A quote in this story was amended at the request of Queer Boorloo Perth, initially it was claimed that the government was not acting on plans to ban conversion therapy or update surrogacy laws. This was not accurate as the government, while not committing to taking action, has not ruled out addressing these matters in the current term.
