Amnesty International Australia has made a submission to Queensland’s Legal Affairs and Safety Committee regarding the introduction of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Bill 2022. The Bill seeks to better recognise Queensland’s diverse community by allowing people to to self-identify their sex or gender on identification documents and removing the current requirement for a person to have undergone ‘sexual reassignment surgery’.
Our self-defined gender identity is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom. International human rights law says that our laws should respect self-identification. This means that trans, non-binary and gender diverse people should have access to basic ID that is true to their gender- regardless of what medical treatment they have (or have not) received.
In Australia and around the world, most people take their identity documents for granted. For transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people, having their birth certificate correctly state their gender can mean everything.
We want a world where human rights are no longer under fire. Governments and people in power everywhere must respect everyone’s basic freedoms, and allow their citizens to live safely, without fear. When human rights are attacked, Amnesty will call on the human rights abusers to be tried and brought to justice. Learn more about what we do and our crisis response work.
