The Australian Christian Lobby has today urged the Tasmanian parliament to carefully consider allowing amendments to birth certificates based on gender identity.
ACL’s state director Mark Brown said, “While birth, deaths and marriage laws need to be updated in line with federal marriage law changes, it is wise to more fully consider the implications of amending a person’s birth certificates based on ones feeling about their gender.”
“Amending a legal document in this way would have many unintended consequences, like jeopardising women only safe-spaces and encouraging potentially dangerous competitive inequalities in sport.”
“The sex a child is born with is a scientific and immutable fact. Birth certificates are used to detail such historical truths. A person’s biological sex is changed or removed it greatly diminishes the significance and usefulness of birth certificates. Such changes, therefore, should be off-limits.”
“The government’s decision to allow the Law Reform Institute to investigate this is prudent, so long as all perspectives are considered in their review. However, given that the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute is sponsoring an event tonight put on by a Tasmanian transgender activist group, I have serious doubts this will be the case” commented Mr Brown.
