LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sir – The NT Parliament will debate the question of gender identity on birth certificates this week, the Bill being rushed through in less than 30 days, with the government choosing not to undertake any public consultation.
Alarm bells should be ringing!
This Bill challenges traditions, values and norms of our society. Territorians need to know about these proposed changes.
The purpose to bring NT legislation into line with the new Federal Marriage Act (same sex marriage) and the Federal Sex Discrimination Act. But the amendments are far reaching, beyond what is required.
The Bill proposes a range of sexual identities be included: female, male, non-binary, intersex, and unspecified.
Having a category that allow babies with unclear gender to be recognised makes sense, but it should be noted there is considerable division over exactly what gender identity categories should be included.
This conflict was not canvassed at all by the NT Government. What the heck does “unspecified” and “non-binary” mean?
My concern is that whilst we can be inclusive of one group, it cannot be at the cost of another group.
The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration and Other Legislation Bill 2018 also proposes that traditional gender terminology on birth certificates, such as wife, husband, he, she, brother, sister, widow and widower, be replaced with “gender neutral” terms such as spouse, people and de facto partner.
This dumbing down of society to the lowest common denominator is absurd and in no one’s best interest. We should be embracing diversity of all kinds, as uncool and as traditional as the diversity maybe. To exclude one in favour of the other is socially regressive, not socially progressive.
The key consequential changes to the Bill propose that people don’t have to be married to change their gender on birth certificates; under strict conditions children can change their gender on their birth certificate; that adults can change their gender on their birth certificates without having had gender reassignment surgery; and adults can change their gender on their birth certificates as many times as they want.
A birth certificate should be a record of a person’s details at birth. Changing any information on a birth certificate means it is not a true and accurate record of a birth, and by literal definition is not a birth certificate.
I believe the Government should consider the use of an alternative “identity” or “recognition” certificate to allow people to change their details, including gender if they choose, whilst keeping a birth certificate as a pure record of birth.
The Gunner Labor Government has deliberately tried to fly under the radar with this, knowing full well that people will be generally concerned about these types of changes to societal norms and traditions.
Robyn Lambley MLA
Independent Member for Araluen
I thoroughly agree, leave birth certificates alone but if a person wants some things changed they apply for another certificate. It makes sense.
This is stilly. The Birth certificate contains a snap shot of basic factual details about the birth and it’s just a piece of paper.
If your birth certificate says you’re a boy then you can change THAT to girl later on. Why do we specify names of the baby if they might change that later too?
Or what if the baby doesn’t want its weight on their birth certificate too, wouldn’t want to be fat shaming the poor baby.
I would like to know how these “new” parents would be referring to their new bundle of joy. Here is my “unspecified / non-binary” baby”.
This is a stupid idea being pushed by stupid people. The Government is stupid for even entertaining the idea.
Is there confusion between sexual idenity and sexual reproduction organs?
Robyn Lambley draws timely attention to another “progressive” government piece of social engineering.
State governments are increasingly invading our private lives in a way that is unconstitutional.
This is typical of socialist-leaning left wing political parties. Territorians should be very angry about this back door Bill.
The Gunner Government continues to reach for new levels of foolishness and division.
A birth certificate is (or should be) a record of fact.
The record notes a persons sex at birth. The person shall live and eventually die with the same sex they are born.
Sex is only determined by the biological conditions such as the x,y chromosomes and potentially, a further 6500 differences between the genes of a male and female.
Male and female is the correct term to determine between the only two sexes.
Of course, genetic defects do exist in humans as they do in all animals. In the case of an intersex birth, whereby the physical characteristics of the baby are unable to determine the sex, then a third option; “intersex” may be a reasonable proposition, amending this later, to reflect the persons ultimate “gender” would seem fair.
However, any person displaying normal physical attributes of either male or female are in fact male or female.
If they so chose to recognize as their opposite – that is their personal choice. One’s identity is fluid, organic and self determined. Of course, such an extreme deviation of one’s gender identity from social and biological norms is sadly, likely, telling of mental health issues.
Let people act, dress, be, whoever they so chose. Let society show tolerance and give people the free liberty for who they chose to be.
However, do not try and inflict the progressive left agenda onto the commonsense of the people. Do not expect people to call others by ridiculous pronouns. Do not expect people to believe that gender is separable from sex.
On a lighter note, a 69 year old man from the Netherlands has commenced legal proceedings in his home country to allow him to reduce his legal age by 20 years.
This seems reasonable in the context of changing ones sex. After all, age is just a number.
The Marxists are well and truly entrenched in the ALP and it seems. The local branch don’t have the guts to stand up to them either. There are only two sexes, scientific fact.
Another example of identity politics and its propensity to divide, to fracture, to set people against each other and, eventually, against themselves.
If this keeps growing in Australia we could end up as confused as the Yanks in their uncertainty over whether one is Arthur or Martha.
I love the story from the Netherlands where someone has emerged into the post-numerical world.
A mate has three kids, one of each.
I am Zoe Brain, Sex and Gender Education Australia, Part of the Ad Hoc Advisory Panel from the Australian National University on law reform in the ACT in this area.
Such children face all sorts of medical and social issues. They shouldn’t have to face completely un-necessary legal ones too. The NT legislation is an attempt to get rid of the existing legal problems they face. By all means, if anyone has a better solution, state it – but a lot of people, lawyers, doctors, legislators, administrators and intersex people themselves, have given a lot of thought to the issue, and this is a compromise that seems to work well in the other states and territories where it has been adopted.
Intersex people exist. As can be seen by the comments, many people don’t realise this.
Maybe this might help explain the kinds of things legislators have to consider when figuring out laws that won’t contradict reality and lead to injustice.
[Most men have 46 chromosomes, including an X and a Y one. The Medical term is 46,XY – often referred to as “genetic males”, even though some women are 46,XY, and 1 in 300 men are not. Most women have 46 chromosomes, including two X chromosomes – 46,XX. ]
A 46,XY mother who developed as a normal woman underwent spontaneous puberty, reached menarche, menstruated regularly, experienced two unassisted pregnancies, and gave birth to a 46,XY daughter with complete gonadal dysgenesis.
• J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan; 93(1):182-9
In an isolated village of the southwestern Dominican Republic, 2% of the live births were in the 1970s, guevedoces … These children appeared to be girls at birth, but at puberty these ‘girls’ sprout muscles, testes, and a penis. For the rest of their lives they are men in nearly all respects. Their underlying pathology was found to be a deficiency of the enzyme, 5-alpha Reductase.
• Science 1974 Dec 27; 186 (4170): 1213-5
The fetal brain develops during the intrauterine period in the male direction through a direct action of testosterone on the developing nerve cells, or in the female direction through the absence of this hormone surge.
In this way, our gender identity (the conviction of belonging to the male or female gender) and sexual orientation are programmed or organized into our brain structures when we are still in the womb.
However, since sexual differentiation of the genitals takes place in the first two months of pregnancy and sexual differentiation of the brain starts in the second half of pregnancy, these two processes can be influenced independently, which may result in extreme cases in trans-sexuality.
This also means that in the event of ambiguous sex at birth, the degree of masculinization of the genitals may not reflect the degree of masculinization of the brain. There is no indication that social environment after birth has an effect on gender identity or sexual orientation.
Endocr Dev. 2010;17:22-35
RESULTS Eight of the 14 subjects assigned to female sex declared themselves male during the course of this study, whereas the two raised as males remained male. Subjects could be grouped according to their stated sexual identity.
Five subjects were living as females; three were living with unclear sexual identity, although two of the three had declared themselves male; and eight were living as males, six of whom had reassigned themselves to male sex. All 16 subjects had moderate-to-marked interests and attitudes that were considered typical of males. Follow-up ranged from 34 to 98 months.
CONCLUSIONS Routine neonatal assignment of genetic males to female sex because of severe phallic inadequacy can result in unpredictable sexual identification. Clinical interventions in such children should be reexamined in the light of these findings.
• N Engl J Med. 2004 January 22; 350(4): 333–341.
At the time of birth the sex should be recorded on the birth certificate by the doctor / medical staff. How can a parent determine at the time of birth that their little girl is going to be a boy when she grows up or vice versa?
Get real NT Government, people can change it legally later, along with their name, let it be. Sheesh. Heard the song by Johnny Cash “A Boy named Sue”?
The big question no doubt soon to be asked in the NT Parliament or perhaps in the Alice council chambers, where will we locate the first set of same-sex traffic lights? Darwin or Alice?
The powers that be may wish to get an expert up from Canberra where same sex lights have been installed in the suburb of Braddon.
Then there is another brilliant traffic control idea: Melbourne Yarra Council has installed traffic lights in Richmond that they say represents a famous local female pioneer. It looks more like a version of Mary Poppins. This is the brave new world of Aussie “progress”.
Robyn Lambley MLA, Independent Member for Araluen is spot on.
Why does the normal side of the population have to have this junk rammed down our throats by the weird side of humanity? (Referring to the politicians, actually).
And why do politicians bow and scrape to minorities in the name of vote gathering by passing such ludicrous legislation. They need to get a life.
So much for transparency in Government!
In other words, your birth certificate will become another lie?