State removes sex from certificates

Sexual reassignment surgery will no longer be mandatory for adults and teenagers wanting to change sex on their Queensland birth certificates under new laws that were expected to pass state parliament on Wednesday night.

The transgender reforms, opposed by the Liberal National Party, will also give parents the ­option not to list any gender on their newborn’s documentation.

Children older than 16 will be able to legally self-identify as another sex without parental consent, as long as they have a supporting statement from an adult who has known them for at least a year. Those aged 12 to 15 will ­require their parents’ permission to change their birth certificate, but can apply to the courts if their parents do not support an application.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said the opt-in approach for listing sex on birth certificates was designed to “give people the greatest agency over what information they want recorded”.

Ms D’Ath said the reforms were not “dangerous or reckless” and had been adopted in other states. “It follows in the footsteps of reforms which most other Australian jurisdictions have already progressed,” she said.

Tasmania became the first state to make gender optional on birth certificates in 2019.

However, Queensland will not require a medical statement from a doctor or a psychologist, which will be ­required in Western Australia under its laws and has already been adopted in South ­Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory.

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