A little less conversation

“Responses to the [ACT Law Reform Advisory] Council inquiry into the legal recognition of transgender and intersex people in the ACT call for sweeping reforms to the territory’s laws to ensure the protection of human rights.”

The words from a report in The Canberra Times (August 17) are 100 percent correct. There’s a problem: we’ve heard calls for sweeping reforms after the release of reports too many times. Calls for action go back as far as the 1996 Senate inquiry into federal LGBTI anti-discrimination law.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Sex Files report was released in 2009 and earlier this year saw the release of the consultation on protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sex and/or gender identity.

We can also add in the fantastic wide-ranging research over the years by the teams at Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society that shows the effects on health of discrimination.

I think we have more than enough evidence of the injustice and inequality faced by LGBTI people. We have more than enough rationale to state the benefits of documentation reform and federal anti-discrimination law.

Heavens, the story from the ACT inquiry of a person seeing their partner detained in overseas immigration because of the limitations relating to sex/gender on passports is strong enough evidence in itself. Or the story of someone having surgery they don’t want/need so they can fit into someone else’s binary boxes is also evidence in itself.

It’s time to start writing to your local MP and senators in your state/territory to demand the urgent implementation of federal anti-discrimination law. Documentation reform is a combination of state/territory and federal law, so write to politicians at both levels.

However, don’t just ask for the law. Ask for a timetable as to when they plan to implement the necessary changes. Ask why they want to leave ordinary Australians and their loved ones worse off in these areas for any longer, resulting in unnecessary distress and loss of potential. No more excuses.

It’s definitely time for “a little less conversation, a little more action please”.

By Sally Goldner, VGLRL treasurer and TransGender Victoria spokesperson.