South-west transgender advocacy groups are reeling after the bill to amend birth certificates was voted down in Victoria’s Upper House.
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Brophy team leader Lyn Eales said it was an incredibly disappointing outcome.
Changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 2016 in Victoria would have allowed trans and gender diverse people to obtain a birth certificate that reflected their true identity.
Those wishing to alter their pronoun (Mr, Ms, N) are currently required to undergo invasive, expensive surgery and must divorce their spouse.
Ms Eales said the amendment would have enabled recognition of non-binary gender and given those with an intersex condition the ability to self-identify.
“It impacts on them in many ways – from enrollments in education to passports and careers,” she said. “It puts up unnecessary hurdles that no one else has to bear.”
Ms Eales said the decision hurt those most vulnerable in the region.
“Facebook was on fire and phone calls were flying,” she said. “There’s only a certain amount of hurdles and frustration you can deal with.”
Ms Eales said members of parliament were supposed to support all community members.
“It is archaic to think we require someone to have intrusive and invasive surgery to access what everyone else can,” she said. “It’s not fair.”
Despite the disappointment, Ms Eales said advocacy groups would “look to the future” and continue to fight for what were “basic human rights”.
The vote of Western District MP James Purcell – alongside the Coalition, Democratic Labour Party and Shooters and Fishers – resulted in the bill’s defeat in the Upper House. Mr Purcell said there were too many unanswered questions to pass.
“It really wasn’t ready for a change in the law,” he said. “The decision was made on what we believed to be the right result.”
Transgender Victoria and the Labor condemned the opposition for its “specious and outright incorrect arguments and often intemperate and hurtful language”.
Equality MP Martin Foley said the bill would have improved the lives of thousands of Victorians – including hundreds of children cared for by the Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Dysphoria unit.
“This bill was about giving trans and gender Victorians a basic right,” he said.
