This change will mean trans people are not forced to choose between divorcing the person they love and having identification that doesn’t reflect who they are.
Queensland is the third state in Australia to introduce the amendment after marriage equality was legalized last year.
Anna Brown, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, celebrated the laws.
‘Our communities, families, doctors and schools already support marriage equality, and it’s time our laws did as well. This is a small but significant change that will allow transgender people to be free to be who they are, while maintaining their commitment to the person they fell in love with,’ she said.
There are still more laws that need to change
The Queensland Government is currently reviewing laws which only allow people to change the gender on their birth certificate in very limited circumstances.
‘Transgender people face problems every day accessing services and facilities most Australians use without thinking twice, because their identity documents do not match their gender,’ Brown said.
‘We need a complete overhaul of these outdated laws to ensure, for example, that trans people do not have to undergo invasive and unnecessary surgeries simply to be recognized as the gender they live as.’
