On 25 June, the Australian Senate passed legislation which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status and relationship status. The Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual orientation, gender identity and Intersex status) Act 2013 amends the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and extends the same protections to sexual orientation that already cover gender, race and disability discrimination.
The Act broadens the grounds of discrimination to include;
· sexual orientation (whether sexual orientation is towards persons of the same sex, persons of a different sex, or persons of the same sex and persons of a different sex),
· gender identity (the gender-related characteristics of a person, regardless of their sex at birth),
· intersex status (the status of having physical, hormonal or genetic features that are neither wholly female nor wholly male, a combination of female and male or neither female nor male),
· marital or relationship status. The Amendment Act extends the current 'marital status' ground of discrimination to include discrimination based on 'marital or relationship status', which would also create protections for same-sex de facto couples.
These grounds of discrimination are extended to education, the provision of goods, services and facilities, and the administration of Commonwealth laws and programs. The Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC said, “The Government is proud to have passed this historic Bill, which is an important step towards equality for all Australians, regardless of their sexuality or gender identity.”
Click here to read a press release from the Office of the Attorney-General for Australia.
The Australian Government subsequently introduced guidelines, the Australian Government Guidelines on the recognition of sex and gender, which recognise that individuals may indentify and be recognised within the community as a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth. These guidelines will make it easier for transgender, intersex and gender diverse people to change their sex or gender in government records.
Click here to read the guidelines.