Trans News Worldwide

[smalltownguy]

May 11, 2018

Pakistani Law Passes Landmark Transgender Rights Bill, Gives Them Fundamental Rights

The Pakistani parliament has passed a historic decision regarding the transgender community in the country. A bill has been passed which promises basic fundamental rights to the people of the third gender. Majority of the Islamabad's National Assembly voted in favour of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act on May 9.

The newly passed law now gives the transgenders here their long-due rights. The act criminalises discrimination against and harassment of transgenders at work, home or in public places. Transgenders can identify themselves in any gender- male, female or the third sex on all the official documents including their passports or driver's licenses. Although the act has been passed it has to be approved by the Pakistani president Mamnoon Hussain. Maavia Malik Scripts History! Becomes First Transgender News Anchor in Pakistan

There have been a lot of instances of discrimination of the transgenders, some of them going till the extent of murder and forced sex. Now with the new law the people of the community will also ensure safe houses, medical care and also counselling. "I thought that this would never be achieved in my lifetime, but I am fortunate to have seen my own parliament pass this bill," veteran transgender activist Bindiya Rana told Al Jazeera. “Transgender people constitute one of the most marginalized communities in the country and they face problems ranging from social exclusion to discrimination, lack of education facilities, unemployment, lack of medical facilities and so on," the bill reads.

Not exact figures but there is an estimate that there are at least 500,000 in the country. There has been extreme discrimination against them and they are left to do begging and dancing as a source of money. The new law also criminalises all discrimination in public transports to even doctor's clinic. The passing of the bill makes Pakistan one of the few countries in the world to recognize the self-perceived gender identity of transgenders. It is sure a historic one and gives new hope to the people who had been discriminated against for so long.

[smalltownguy]

May 10, 2018

Miss Bumbum’s first transgender contestants spark backlash

Brazil’s infamous Miss Bumbum pageant is drumming up even more buzz than usual this year, as the entry of the competition’s first-ever transgender contestants is sparking rage among some participants.

Though the derriere pageant supports the two contestants in question, some of the other 25 hopefuls are eager to have them removed from the lineup ahead of the August event.

On May 10, transgender contestants Paula Oliveira and Giovanna Spinella told The Sun they’re totally confident in their abilities, despite the harassment they are receiving.

Paula Oliveira (L) and Giovanna Spinella (R) are looking forward to the August event. (Splash News )

“They are feeling threatened because they are seeing a trans who is more beautiful than them,” Oliveira said. “I’m not offended by what they said, because it’s clear they want me out because I’ve got a much sexier a--.”

LEGOLAND RESPONDS TO CRITICISM OVER ‘LEGO’ MEGHAN MARKLE’S SKIN COLOR

While officials are backing the entry of the pageant’s first transgender finalists, others aren’t so happy. (Reuters)

Spinella chimed in that she is “honored to be able to take part” in the eighth annual pageant and go head-to-head with beauties representing Brazil’s 27 states. The lone winner of the event crowned with the “best bum” scores overnight fame and the opportunity to get rich quick with modeling contracts.

Finalist Ellen Santana is among the ones protesting Oliveira and Spinella’s participation.

“The competition is supposed to be 100 percent feminine and yet we’re going to have bottoms which are men’s bottoms. It doesn’t matter if they’ve had surgery, changed their names or sex on a piece of paper,” the 31-year-old biology student told The Sun.

Miss BumBum Brazil 2017 pageant contestants parade at Paulista Avenue in Sao Paulo's financial center. (Reuters)

“I’m not intolerant, I know there are a lot of trans people who are more beautiful than lots of women. I just think that they should compete in a pageant for trans, and not be allowed to compete in Miss Bumbum, which is all about the beauty of the Brazilian woman.”

“I just think that the competition is for women, not for men,” 29-year-old Debora Porto echoed in agreement. “It’s them who should leave because they are men with a man’s body and a man’s bottom. I think the whole diversity thing has gone too far.”

NORDSTROM RACK APOLOGIZES AFTER THREE BLACK TEENS ARE WRONGLY ACCUSED OF SHOPLIFTING

Unfortunately for Santana and Porto, this year’s theme for the competition is “diversity,” with organizers encouraging participants to “break the mold.” Furthermore, Miss Bumbum’s officials have threatened to disqualify the angry entrants if they continue to “prejudice” their transgender peers.

“As long as these women have undergone sex reassignment surgery, and have become fully women, there is nothing that prevents them from taking part. The truth is that, by the law, they are 100 percent women,” Miss Bumbum founder Cacau Oliver said.

According to the Daily Mail, Brazil began providing free gender reassignment operations in 2007 through its public health system, and transgender individuals can legally register their gender change. Nevertheless, the South American nation “has one of the world's highest rates of fatal violence against transgender people,” making Oliveira and Spinella’s debut all the more noteworthy.

[smalltownguy]

May 11, 2018

Trump Admin Attacks Trans People Again by Rolling Back Prison Protections

The Trump administration rewrote the Prison Rape Elimination Act's guidelines to allow for housing of trans people based on "biological sex."

In its latest assault on transgender people, the Trump administration on Friday rolled back President Barack Obama-era protections for trans inmates that were intended to mitigate their exposure to sexual assault and abuse. Donald Trump’s Bureau of Prisons rewrote the guidelines to allow wardens to “use biological sex as the initial determination for designation” when placing trans people for housing, screening, and programs and services, Buzzfeed News reports.

The latest in a string of attacks the administration has unleashed on trans people since Trump took office—including rescinding protections for trans students and implementing a ban on trans people in the military — the move defies the 2012 Prison Rape Elimination Act, which “mandates prison officials must screen all individuals at admission and upon transfer to assess their risk of experiencing abuse,” according to a release from the National Center for Transgender Equality.

“Transgender people already know the Trump-Pence administration is dedicated to stripping away our rights. Their cruelty is only made more evident as they continually go after the most vulnerable among us,” NCTE executive director Mara Keisling said in a statement.

“The extreme rates of physical and sexual violence faced by transgender people in our nation’s prisons is a stain on the entire criminal justice system. Instead of leaving the existing policy alone, the administration is clearly prepared to encourage federal prisons to violate federal law and advance its own inhumane agenda,” Keisling added.

Rescinding protections for trans people in prison was spurred by a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in which four Texas-based evangelical female prisoners alleged that being housed with trans women “creates a situation that incessantly violates the privacy of female inmates; endangers the physical and mental health of the female Plaintiffs and others, including prison staff; [and] increases the potential for rape,” according to Buzzfeed News.

The lawsuit challenged the Prison Rape Elimination Act and a guidance memo Obama issued shortly before exiting office that noted trans people in prison face “increased risk of suicide, mental health issues, and victimization.”

Those guidelines called for “serious consideration” of a person’s gender identity in terms of where they would be placed, pronoun use, health services, and more.

“Consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate’s health and safety, and whether the placement would present management or security problems,” the Obama-era guidelines instructed prison staff.

A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons argued that the new Trump administration guidelines were put in place to essentially protect all inmates, but she failed to acknowledge the increased risks of violence and abuse trans people face.

“The manual now addresses and articulates the balance of safety needs of transgender inmates as well as other inmates, including those with histories of trauma, privacy concerns, etc., on a case-by-case basis," spokeswoman Nancy Ayers told Buzzfeed.

[smalltownguy]

May 14, 2018

Transgender groups meet in Dallas for education, activism

In this April 28, 2018 photo, an “all gender” sign is taped to the women’s restroom during the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition’s Family Picnic at Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound, Texas. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

DALLAS (AP) - Carter Brown stands before his family and begins to cry.

Dressed all in white, the group seated in front of him seems to glow in the conference room’s dim light.

The Dallas Morning News reports their figures swim before his teary eyes. Brown breathes in the sweet odor of the burning incense, letting the low beat of the drums calm him.

“Excuse me,” he says, chuckling. “I have something in my eyes.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Brown takes a breath, smiles and convenes the 2018 Black Trans Advocacy Conference in Dallas with a hope and a prayer. He speaks freely, knowing he’s safe being vulnerable here, among his people.

Seven years ago, Brown founded BTAC, which would become the only nationwide organization run by and for transgender African-Americans. What started as a small private Facebook group run out of the Arlington native’s home has grown into a nonprofit with global reach.

What’s more, it’s a family.

“I’ve been homeless. I’ve been hungry. I’ve been abused. I’ve been rejected,” Carter tells the group, his voice steadying. “We all have our struggles.

“But at the end of the day, I want you all to know you’re going to be all right.”

This is how Dallas became home for the black transgender community - and why its leaders think it needs to stay put, deep in the heart of red Texas.

Upstairs at the Wyndham Dallas Suites off North Central Expressway, volunteers sign people in at the registration table.

They pass out name tags and blue lanyards to those who are OK with having their picture taken. Green lanyards are for those who are not openly trans or who don’t want to be pictured in promotional material. On a nearby table sit dozens of orange tote bags.

Welcome to BTAC 2018.

For the past seven years, Dallas has been the site for this annual gathering for transgender and gender non-conforming Americans, meaning they do not identify with the sex assigned at birth or their gender expression might different from the traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity.

Hundreds of attendees from the Bay Area to the Bronx turned out for the recent weeklong event, which includes dozens of panels on everything from discrimination in housing and health care to dating, love and anti-trans violence. There’s a barber and free HIV testing on site, an open-mike night and an awards gala.

At a pageant, they crown a new Mr. and Miss Black Trans International - the group’s lead advocates for the next year - and over the weekend they gather for “family day” at a ranch in Flower Mound to sing, dance and play games.

Many of the attendees are already activists. Many others are just starting their transition. The youngest haven’t hit their teens; the oldest is 71. Here they find covenant partners. They recognize excellence. They discover fellowship.

BTAC traces its roots to 2011, when Brown started a private Facebook group for black transgender men like him. At first, a handful of local Dallas guys would meet for drinks or a pickup game of basketball. But within a few months, 400 men from coast to coast had signed up.

“This was something we couldn’t find anywhere else,” Brown, 43, said. “It just became a real staple for the community, albeit virtual. I mean, guys were in there all day every day just communicating, building relationships, friendships.”

Today, Black Trans Men Inc. boasts more than 4,000 Facebook members. Along with sister organization Black Trans Women Inc., the two form BTAC, which has its headquarters in northwest Dallas.

Jonathan Thunderword, a minister and elder known as “Pop,” and his wife, Triptta, said Brown has “carved out a place” for their community. At BTAC, attendees whose biological families have shunned them can discover new brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and even mothers and fathers.

Rainbow family, one person called it. Chosen family.

Atlanta native Tiffany Starr, the outgoing Miss Black Trans International, never had children of her own. But she now has seven trans sons and daughters whose parents rejected them, some of whom have taken her last name. Maddox Jackson of Austin met his brothers TreShaun and Trenton here. Jackson’s wife, Rebecca, coordinates “Anchors,” the partners and spouses of trans men and women.

They look up to Thunderword as a grandfather.

“The saying goes, ‘If you build it they will come,’ and that’s what happened over the years,” Thunderword said after his keynote address. “It was easy for us to follow.”

The Thunderwords have been together for 20 years, living everywhere from the California coast to the Texas Panhandle. But soon, they plan to move to the Dallas area to be closer to their BTAC family. A few people others have also made the move after attending the conference.

“There’s something about the Dallas community,” Triptta said. “Everyone has been so warm and friendly.”

Dallas was the first city in Texas to pass an ordinance banning discrimination based on gender identity - a measure that was expanded it in 2015. There are city and county LGBT task forces, and Dallas is the home of Genecis at Children’s Health, one of the only pediatric clinics for transgender kids and teens in the country.

Louis Mitchell, a minister and the executive director of Transfaith, has been coming to the conference since its inception in 2012. He said it’s the mix of the professional and personal that makes Dallas uniquely suited to host them.

“Urban expertise and Southern hospitality,” Mitchell said. “That’s the combination that makes it work.”

In the hotel’s cavernous atrium, other conferences are getting underway as BTAC begins to wrap up. A group from Tanzania gathers near the business center. A bunch of vitamin salesmen in cowboy hats and boots hoot and holler near the entrance. A couple of guys in suits are posted at the bar, watching replays from the NFL draft the night before.

Malaysia Walker is sitting near the elevators.

Walker, 39, who performs under the stage name Malaysia Black, was just crowned Miss Black Trans International 2018. During the talent portion of the competition, she unveiled portraits of Chyna Gibson, Mesha Caldwell and Kenne McFadden, three black trans women killed in the South and Texas since 2016.

Walker said BTAC having its headquarters and holding its conference in a conservative state like Texas means something. Being out and proud in Dallas, being visible in red Texas - where Republican lawmakers last year unsuccessfully pushed the bathroom bill - makes more of an impact than it would in New York or California. But they can still feel safe here, which Walker doesn’t think she could guarantee for her trans family in her native Jackson, Mississippi.

“Northerners don’t experience the hardship Southerners do,” said Walker, 39, who leads the Transgender Education and Advocacy Program for the ACLU in Mississippi. “But Mississippi is not ready.”

Walker, a conference newcomer, almost didn’t make it this year. One of her “rainbow kids” was just killed, the victim of a random shooting, and she didn’t think she was strong enough to make the trip. That’s when Esperanza “Espy” Brown, Carter’s wife, called her.

The conference has helped her and her husband heal, Walker said, something she didn’t think was possible a month ago: “We needed to be here.”

Carter and Espy Brown hope the attendees - their family - carry with them this sense of healing until next year, when the community comes home to Dallas for BTAC 2019.

“The core of what we’re building, the core of our organization, is love,” Espy Brown said. “Whenever you come here, we’ll be here.”

[smalltownguy]

May 13, 2018

Bureau of Prisons rewrites rules for transgender inmates

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons changed the wording in its Transgender Offenders Manual to dial down certain protections for transgender inmates, reports NPR.

The details: The new guidelines say inmates' housing facilities will be recommended based on biological sex, with gender identity being considered "in rare cases." The previous version of the manual, from January 2017, says "the TEC [Transgender Executive Council] will recommend housing by gender identity when appropriate."

Other changes, per NPR:

The manual's purpose has shifted from the language: "To ensure the Bureau of Prisons properly identifies, tracks, and provides services to the transgender population," to, "To ensure the Bureau of Prisons properly identifies, tracks, and provides services to the transgender population, consistent with maintaining security and good order in Federal prisons."
For inmates in a gender transition process, the manual now says, "Hormone and other necessary treatment may be provided after an individualized assessment of the requested inmate by institution medical staff."
The word "necessary" was added as part of the changes and allows the agency to "make determinations about what sort of hormone therapies and other gender transition services are required," per Buzzfeed News.

[smalltownguy]

May 16, 2018

Small town Southerner finds love with transgender prostitute in ‘Anything’


John Carroll and Maura Tierney in “Anything,” a 2017 film written and directed by Timothy McNeil.

Can a middle-aged straight man from small-town Mississippi find happiness with a transgender junkie prostitute in seedy Hollywood?

That’s the premise of “Anything,” writer-director Timothy McNeil’s sometimes awkward but at times unexpectedly tender film, based on his play, that gives longtime character actor John Carroll Lynch a starring role.

Lynch is Early Landry, a 55-year-old man living in Crane, Miss., who is grieving his wife’s death in a car accident. After an attempt at suicide, his sister Laurette (Maura Tierney) brings him to Los Angeles to live with her dysfunctional family, which includes disabled husband Ted (Christopher Thornton) and teenage son Jack (Tanner Buchanan, the president’s son in “Designated Survivor”).

Early and Laurette love each other, but can only take each other’s presence in limited doses. So after Early’s insurance settlement from the accident comes through, he moves into a small apartment in Hollywood, which Early tells Laurette is “just far enough from you — and I mean that in the most loving way possible.”

The apartment is in a rundown building filled with the kind of people you can’t find in Mississippi. Bald, squarely dressed and with a southern accent, Early is “like Andy Griffith’s sad brother” to one resident.

Early meets cute with his next door neighbor, who calls herself Freda Von Rhenburg (Matt Bomer). Freda is a mess; she abuses drugs and hangs out with fellow prostitutes on the street. And yet her feminine presence is exactly what Early needs, and Early’s moral steadiness is what Freda needs.

The situation is preposterous, and yet Lynch and Bomer make it work; they actually have real chemistry together.

“I came here with a pulse and a desire to die, and that’s about it,” Early tells Freda. “But I didn’t. So you’ve already done something.”

But “Anything” often strains credulity. Early takes it upon himself to help Freda kick her addiction to drugs, and boy, was that easy. When Early invites his sister’s family over to meet Freda, Laurette, the L.A. resident, loudly reveals herself to be way more intolerant than small-town Southerner Early in a ridiculous, over-the-top scene (Tierney’s role is thankless).

And as to the Early-Freda relationship itself, no spoilers revealed here. Suffice to say that McNeil plays it way too safe. Trying to have it both ways, he satisfies no one.

[smalltownguy]

May 19, 2018

Teen Wins Best Actor In Cannes Section For Transgender Role

Un Certain Regard generally showcases more edgy, up-and-coming directors than Cannes' main competition. The prizes are awarded a day before the awards ceremony in the main competition.

Belgian actor Victor Polster poses during a photocall for the film Girl (Image courtesy: AFP Relaxnews)

A 16-year-old Belgian actor won best actor in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes film festival Friday for playing an aspiring transgender ballerina who brutalises her body to further her dreams. Victor Polster, a trained dancer, won the award for his cinematic debut in Lukas Dhont's Girl, about a teen trapped in a boy's body desperate to speed up the gender reassignment process while trying to perfect her dance technique.

A jury led by Benicio Del Toro awarded the section's top prize to the Swedish film Border by Ali Abbasi, about a female customs officer with a facial disfigurement but a extraordinary sense of smell that helps her detect fraudsters.

The best director's prize went to Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa for Donbass, a 13-episode odyssey set in the eastern Ukraine region of the same name, where government forces have been fighting pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

The award for best screenplay went to French-Moroccan director Meryem Benm'barek for Sofia, about a middle-class, Moroccan 20-year-old scrambling to avoid bringing shame on her family after falling pregnant out of wedlock.

Un Certain Regard generally showcases more edgy, up-and-coming directors than Cannes' main competition. The prizes are awarded a day before the awards ceremony in the main competition. Traffic star Del Toro won the best male actor prize at Cannes in 2008 for his portrayal of Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's two-part film Che.

[smalltownguy]

MAY 21, 2018

Pakistan's transgender rights law - a 'battle half won'

LAHORE (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bindya Rana wipes away tears of joy as she recalls her long battle to have the rights of Pakistan’s transgender community formally recognized in law.

“I feel as if an orphan has finally now found shelter,” Rana, a 50-year-old transgender woman, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation after Pakistan’s parliament approved the landmark bill earlier this month.

On Friday the bill, which seeks to end discrimination against Pakistan’s transgender community, formally became law when acting president Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani gave his assent.

Campaigners for transgender rights welcomed the move, but some cautioned that enforcement was likely to be slow.

“The passage of the bill into law ... is a battle that is still only half won,” said Ashee Butt, founder of the Be Ghar Foundation, which runs a shelter for transgender people.

“We now face the challenge of fighting for the law to be enforced in its true spirit and that may take another a decade or two,” she said.

The law is the latest step towards equality for the community in the deeply conservative Muslim-majority country, where homosexuality remains a crime.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that transgender people - sometimes known as “hijras” in South Asia - could get national identity cards as a “third sex”.

Last year the government issued its first passport with a transgender category.

In practice however transgender people in Pakistan are often marginalized and face discrimination in education and jobs.

Many live in secluded communities and have no choice but to beg on the streets or sing and dance at private parties to earn a living. Some also turn to prostitution to make ends meet.

Just days before Pakistan’s parliament passed the new bill, a transgender woman was murdered in the northern city of Peshawar, the fourth such killing this year according to local rights activists.

The law requires the government to set up dedicated safe spaces with medical and educational facilities where they would be free from harassment.

One clause specifically protects the community from harassment, which Butt said was still widespread, both in public and in private.

“It provides a sense of being protected,” she said, describing how she and the rest of the community faced taunts and even physical attacks.

It will also allow transgender people to apply for driving licenses and passports and inherit property using their chosen identities, and to change their gender in official records.

For Rana, the most significant aspect of the changes is the ability for transgender men and women to register under their own identity, rather than one imposed by society.

“The biggest source of happiness for us is that the new law provides transgender people the right to register their chosen gender identity on their government issued national identity cards and documents,” she said.

“Now we can fight confidently at all levels, including in the courts, for these rights,” she added, calling the law “long overdue”.

[smalltownguy]

5/22/18

TRANSGENDER PEOPLE’S BRAINS ARE WIRED LIKE THOSE OF GENDER THEY IDENTIFY WITH, NEW STUDY SHOWS

The brains of transgender people are wired in a way that matches the gender they identify with rather than their biological sex, according to a new study.

Researchers found that whether a person identifies as transgender could be tied to how their brains develop in the womb. A person might identify as transgender when the gender they are assigned at birth according to their sex does not match how they feel inside. For instance, a person with a penis who is told they are a boy at birth could later grow up to identify as a woman.

To arrive at their findings, researchers at the VU University Medical Center in the Netherlands analyzed the brain activity of young transgender people using MRI scans. Around 160 young people were involved in the small study, including adolescent boys and girls with gender dysphoria.

The team assessed how their brains changed in response to a pheromone that prompts gender-specific activity in the organ. They found that the transgender adolescents had parallels with the brain activity of cisgender participants of the same gender. Cisgender is the term used to describe a person who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Professor Julie Bakker, an expert in neuroendocrinology at the University of Liege and lead author of the study, told Newsweek: “The earlier it [being transgender] is detected, the better the outcome of the treatment.

“For instance in the Netherlands, youngsters are being treated with puberty inhibitors at 12 years of age to prevent the development of secondary sex characteristics which are difficult or even impossible to reverse (like the lowering of the voice in boys) and then at 16 years of age, they can start with cross-sex hormones. It has been shown that these youngsters are doing relatively well and are well accepted by their peers.”

Acknowledging that the study had a small cohort, she explained that the number of studies on this topic have been growing in recent years and researchers have been their sharing data.

Bakker added: "It is important to study the origin of sex differences in the brain, not only for making clinical decisions for people suffering from disorders of sex development or from gender dysphoria, but also because there are important sex differences in the incidence of a wide variety of neurological diseases such as autism, depression, schizophrenia and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

"We need to know more about how sex hormones influence brain function and structure." She explained that while most studies have been performed on male subjects, both humans and animals, these do not always relate to females.

"It has been shown that women are more sensitive to morphine or sleep medication, and there could be many other differences that have not been discovered yet because one has been focusing on males only," she said.

Dr. James Barrett, lead clinician at the Gender Identity Clinic and president of the British Association of Gender Identity Specialists, was among those to peer review the study. He told Newsweek it was the latest piece of evidence to provide a link between the brain structures of transgender people and the gender with which they identify.

“It used to be held long ago that all of this was psychological, and over the years the pendulum of 'Is it nature or nurture?' has swung rather more toward the nature side of it, with increasing peculiar pieces of biological evidence suggesting there may be something innate in the pre-uterine environment,” he said.

Asked to address those who claim that being transgender is a “lifestyle choice,” he said: “It is not the experience with the people I deal with on a day to day basis. I imagine they are the same people who say that gay people have a choice.

“Do people choose to be left-handed? You can make them write right-handed, and they can get quite good at it, but they’d be fundamentally left-handed. Why people are left-handed is a complicated business—but in the end, left-handed they are,” he concluded.

[smalltownguy]

May 24, 2018

Victoria Is The Latest State To Scrap ‘Forced Transgender Divorce’ Laws



Transgender Victorians will now be able to stay married to their partners when they change the gender on their birth certificate under legislation passed by the Victorian government on Tuesday night.

In several states and territories, transgender people must be unmarried if they want to update the sex marker on their birth certificate, essentially requiring trans people to make a cruel choice between divorcing the person they love or having identification that doesn’t reflect who they are. The law is a leftover from when same-sex marriages were illegal.

Victorian trans woman Sarah Adcock married her wife in 2008, and she transitioned to female in 2012. She changed her name but has previously been unable to change her gender on her birth certificate while married to her partner.

She said Australians “overwhelmingly voted for an inclusive and fair society” last year and all states need to make sure this extends to transgender and other gender diverse people.

“My wife and I love each other very much. We’ve enjoyed nine happy year together as a married couple and look forward to many more as we bring up our child,” she said.

“Our marriage certificate doesn’t define our marriage as our relationship grows, but it is symbolic. We weren’t willing to give it up.”

Another Victorian affected by the law is Greens Senator Janet Rice’s partner Penny (both pictured), and Rice said the law change means “Penny will be able to affirm her gender on her birth certificate and we can stay married for many years to come.”

Transgender Victoria spokesperson Sally Goldner said the reforms were important for the trans and gender diverse people and their partners, and urged remaining states to move quickly to change their respective laws.

“These reforms simply extend concepts like love and equality, but we would like to acknowledge the couples who were sadly forced apart before this reform and the sacrifices they made,” she said.

A similar bill to scrap the divorce requirement in New South Wales was introduced to that state’s parliament this week.

NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby co-convenor Lauren Foy welcomed the move and said the legal changes around the unmarried requirement will improve the lives of transgender people.

“We congratulate the Berejiklian government on their strong commitment to equality for all people in NSW and will continue to welcome legislative advances that promote the autonomy, dignity and respect that all LGBTI deserve,” she said.

The Queensland Government has also introduced similar changes in a bill currently before parliament, and is also holding a public inquiry into broader changes to birth certificate laws.

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said the divorce requirement in Section 22 of the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act had “caused significant anguish for many gender-diverse Queenslanders and must change.”

South Australia and the ACT had already updated their laws before the passage of the same-sex marriage bill in 2017.

Human Rights Law Centre Legal Advocacy Director Anna Brown said it’s “unacceptable that some trans and gender diverse people are still waiting for full marriage equality.”

“The community has shown their support for marriage equality, it’s time our laws did as well,” Ms Brown said.

“All governments must follow Victoria’s lead and reform outdated birth certificate laws so trans and gender diverse people can live with dignity.”

Trans Health Australia spokesperson Jaime Paige said Australia still has some way to go before all discrimination against transgender people is removed.

“This is a step in the right direction but trans people are still required to undergo invasive surgery before they can change their legal sex,” Paige said.

“Much more reform is needed to bring birth certificate laws in Victoria, New South Wales and many other states into line with best practice worldwide.”