Tasmania declares gender designation on birth certificates optional

Tasmania has become the first Australian state to pass legislation making gender designation on birth certificates optional.

The law also makes strides for older Tasmanians, permitting people to change their gender designation without necessitating that they have surgery and allowing people 16 and over to change their registered gender without permission from their parents. The state’s definition of “hate speech” is also broadened under the law to include remarks against gender expression.

Though the bill, a result of amendments made by the Labor and Green parties, was strongly opposed by the majority party, it passed in Tasmania’s lower house on Wednesday after House of Assembly speaker Sue Hickey crossed party lines to stand in solidarity with the legislation.

“I believe wholeheartedly that this Bill removes the discrimination of the transgender community and the only unintended consequence would be that a failure to pass this legislation would result in more psychological damage to the transgender community and their families,” Hickey said of the decision. "This is not a win for any particular political party, rather it grants dignity to the transgender community."

Interestingly, Tasmania has not always stood at the forefront of LBGTQI+ rights. In 1997, it became the last Australian state to decriminalize same-sex partnerships. Though many advocates are optimistic that this bill signifies an important victory for the rights of transgender and intersex people, conservative Tasmanians aren’t so sure, claiming that not enough preparation went into the bill's composition.

Premier Will Hodgman, head of the Tasmanian executive branch, said, “Because of the refusal by Labor and the Greens to consider the legal consequences of their amendments, it is highly likely the Parliament will need to fix up problems with the legislation and repeal of the Labor-Green amendments at a later date.”

Around the world, the rights of transgender and intersex individuals to designate their own official gender have been on the upswing. Tasmania joins Canadian provinces Ontario and Saskatchewan, for example, in allowing parents to remove gender designation from birth certificates altogether, whilst places like New York City, India, Bangladesh and Germany all allow their citizens to be legally recognized as some third, non-binary gender option.

"Young transgender and gender diverse Tasmanians will grow up in a different world from the one we have known because the law will respect and protect who they are," said Roen Meijers from Transforming Tasmania, an organization campaigning for transgender rights. “I hope our achievement inspires the rest of the nation to move quickly towards the reforms that are so overdue in this country."