How did I miss this? I blame you, my usually-diligent army of feminist informants! This is an essential document giving legitimacy to the fundamental rights of non gender conforming persons, a sorely lacking element of our supposedly liberal and accepting democracy! I realise that, like most sensible, inclusive, and just recommendations made by the Human Rights Commission it will probably languish in the margins of the government’s attention, but the fact that there is even a report about the blatant ridiculousness of official sex/gender recognition is really important. Every single time I go to tick the ‘female’ box it reminds me forcefully of the massive privilege I have as being someone whose sex and gender are a) congruent, and b) culturally acceptable and recognised.
Some of the recommendations of the report are relevant to areas of Australian law I didn’t even know existed, but which probably impact trans and genderqueer people every day of their lives. I feel ignorant for not knowing, for example, that someone’s marital status could impact their eligibility for a legal sex change:
Recommendation 1: Marital status should not be a relevant consideration as to whether or not a person can request a change in legal sex.
Of course now that I read this, it’s obvious that the government would want to pour petrol over and set fire to any suggestion that two people of legally the same sex should be allowed to exist as married. I assumed that, if a person legally changed their documented sex, they wouldn’t be eligible to get married to someone of the same sex; but it never occurred to me that someone’s sex might be contingent on their being married already. The level of fuckedness in that notion is just astronomical. ‘You’re married, therefore WE GET TO DECIDE WHAT SEX YOU ARE HAHAHAHAAAAA’ what the fuck? If I’m married, do you also get to decide my religion, or decide whether or not I identify as someone who’s likely to set you on fire with my mind? That is cisgender privilege on ‘roids.
Then there are the more obvious recommendations, the ones that address grindingly obvious bits of legal discrimination:
Recommendation 2: The definition of sex affirmation treatment should be broadened so that surgery is not the only criteria for a change in legal sex.
[…]
Recommendation 7: Documents of identity and processes required for the legal recognition of sex should not reveal personal information about a person’s past identity in relation to sex.
[…]
Recommendation 9: Where possible, sex or gender should be removed from government forms and documents.
NO REALLY?! People who are men or women shouldn’t have to undergo invasive surgery in order to be legally recognised as their correct or chosen sex or gender?! ‘WELL, you can be a woman IF YOU MUST, but only if you modify your genitals so that they look like something our tiny brains can easily identify as female.’ Sex reassignment surgery should be as easily available as possible for people who need or want it, but damn. You now have to be unmarried and surgically altered to change your sex. (And privileged in a million other ways that this report doesn’t mention.)
#7 is a really important one, I think. It definitely strikes to the heart of this weird cis-predominant notion that trans people have to tell everyone they’ve ever met that they’re trans, otherwise they’re ‘lying’ or ‘tricking people’ into thinking that they’re cis. This notion is really, really fucking dangerous, and is the bedrock of the ‘trans panic’ defence which is often used by violent transphobes in court after they’ve murdered a human being. It’s bizarre enough that the dominant culture forces trans people to disclose their personal medical histories in order to parse them on a gendered level, but that the ‘failure’ of trans people to do this often results in violence is hideous. Get this: it’s not a trans person’s job to tell you shit. You assuming anything concering their trans status is your own weird problem, and refusing to list a trans person’s sex as the only sex on their personal documents is a clear indication of the illegitimacy that trans identities have in our society. That somehow the identity that cis society gave them without their permission is any of anyone’s business. Because trans identities need to be interrogated, like this: ‘LIKE I KNOW YOU SAID YOU’RE A MAN, BUT, LIKE … WHAT ARE YOU REALLY?!?! LOLOLOL@@!’ (read: ‘my identity as a cis person is realler than your identity.’)
#9 is relevant to trans people and genderqueer people in really important ways, like passports; if some ignorant customs official thinks your gender presentation isn’t quite up to scratch, it can seriously impede your ability to travel. Same for drivers’ licenses. And considering the extreme level of harrassment that trans people are subject to by various government agencies, having anyone doubt the veracity of your official documents can be a one-way ticket to Police Brutalitiesville. I think it’s also relevant to the change of gender norms in society generally, as well; it signals that your gender is not necessarily the cornerstone of your identity. I wouldn’t be unhappy about my electricity company no longer knowing my gender identity, certainly.
In summary, this is definitely a positive step initiated by the HRC, and I would be interested in reading the submissions they received from individuals and trans organisations in formulating their recommendations. It looks pretty good to me, but you never know how much important shit they got told by people that might’ve been ignored or left out.
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