AUSTRALIA – Two Western Australian (female-to-male) trans men who challenged the interpretation of the Western Australia (WA) Gender Reassignment Act have won their appeal to be recognized as men.
The Australian Star Observer reported that the two took their challenge to the High Court after they were denied a change to their birth certificates because they had not had a hysterectomy. Both had bilateral mastectomies and were considered infertile due to testosterone treatment.
TransGender Victoria spokesperson Sally Goldner said the high court ruling is in line with the Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2009 Sex Files report which recommends surgery should not be a pre-requisite for the legal recognition of a change of sex. She said, “The high court ruled that the law should be applied in a beneficial way that makes life easier, not harder for people, and therefore that there was no justification for requiring people to have costly and unnecessary surgeries in order to have their sex recognized,”
WA Gender Project spokesperson Aram Hosie said, “The high court’s decision will now make it much easier for transsexual people in Western Australia to obtain documentation that accurately reflects their identity and physical appearance.”
