NSW Equality Bill amendments

_{Image: Dr Kate Toyer (4th from left) with Independent Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich (holding document) and supporters of the new legislation at NSW Parliament House (supplied).}

Last month, the NSW Equality Bill amendments passed both houses of the NSW parliament, with the support of the Government and the NSW Greens party.

First introduced in August 2023 by the Independent Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich, the Bill has been subject to extensive consultation, including a Parliamentary enquiry. 
The amended Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill 2023 proposed various legislative changes, including:
•    Allowing people to change their registered sex through an administrative process, without requiring surgery.
•    Making hatred for or prejudice against transgender, gender diverse or intersex people an aggravating factor in sentencing.
•    Establish a new coercive control offence to threaten to out somebody as LGBTIQA+, living with HIV, being or having a history of being a sex worker.
•    Updating terminology in laws to replace terms such as “HIV infection” and “suffering with AIDS” to “living with HIV/AIDS”.
•    Clarifying in the Mental Health Act 2007 that expressing, or refusing to express, a particular gender identity does not mean that someone has a mental illness.
•    Enabling a parentage order to be made for a child born through international commercial surrogacy, if it is in the best interests of the child and other criteria and important safeguards are met.

For NSW Veterinarian Dr Kate Toyer, the passing of the Bill is a satisfying result of many years advocating for change and educating the community on the need for legislative reform. When asked what this means to her personally, Kate said “I’m fairly open about being trans. However, how I reveal my identity should be my choice”.

_{Image: Dr Kate Toyer and Dr Tara Cashman, Co-Founders of the Australian Rainbow Vets and Allies and the Veterinary Kaleidoscope (supplied).}

The Co-Founder/President of the Australian Rainbow Vets and Allies and the Veterinary Kaleidoscope shared some of the challenges she’s faced since transitioning 10 years ago, including when she went to enrol in an RCVS Advanced Practitioner Certificate course. To do so, Kate needed to supply her passport, veterinary degree and birth certificate. Although her passport indicates her gender as female, her birth certificate indicates her gender as male, automatically outing her as trans without her consent.

Kate has not changed her gender on her birth certificate as, under previous NSW law, this would have required her to “prove” to two separate medical practitioners that she has had genital surgery.

It's been 7 years since Kate was first involved in a meeting to discuss birth certificate reform and what that would look like legislatively. “Finally, being able to change our birth certificates means trans people get to decide when and to whom we tell our intimate details and personal stories," she reflected.