by NINA NGUYEN – AN IMPENDING decision by the Queensland government to allow anyone to change their birth certificate gender could be dangerous to women, according to women’s advocate Sall Grover.
Under proposed changes to the State’s Births, Deaths and Marriage Registration Act 2003, a person will no longer be required to undergo sex-reassignment surgery before changing their certificate.
- It’s preposterous that you can just nominate whatever sex you are legally whenever you want.
- Government bill risks women being accused of ‘hate crimes’ just for wanting a male-free change room.
- Politicians accused of not listening to both sides – and only to trans activists.
Qld Minister for Women Shannon Fentiman confirmed the move during a Budget Estimates hearing last month, promising to introduce the bill before the end of this year, The Courier Mail newspaper reported.
Ms Fentiman said the reform would “allow trans and gender diverse people to have their gender identity accurately reflected in a birth certificate”.
WARNED
Ms Grover, the founder of women-only app Giggle, however, has warned the move has implications for wider society.
Speaking to The Epoch Times, the mother-of-one and lawyer said the new rule could give rise to a situation where a fully-grown male – who self-identifies as a female – could simply enter female-only spaces like bathrooms or change rooms.
“Imagine if that male comes out and says, ‘No, I’m female, you’ve misgendered and committed a hate crime against me’,” she said.
Ms Grover said prioritising gender identities instead of biological sex would encourage people to “ignore their instincts” and indulge in transgender ideology.
“It’s a preposterous idea that you can just nominate whatever sex you are legally on your birth certificate whenever you want.”
She said she tried reaching out to Ms Fentiman, however, she refused to meet with her.
“The whole problem is you’re not hearing all the sides of it, and even the men’s side of it, because there’s a lot of men who are against this as well,” she said.
NOT DEMOCRACY
“That’s not democracy.”
In a message to Ms Grover, Ms Fentiman said the government is “undertaking extensive consultation with the LGBT+ community and stakeholders to make sure we get this right”.
“We want to ensure our laws embrace and support our diverse community.”
The proposal comes after LGBT+ groups urged the Queensland government to update the Births Act in a petition that gathered more than 10,800 signatures.
“To include people of a third or non-binary gender, birth certificates should at least have an additional ‘X’ option,” the petition reads.
“The limit of one name change per year can also be a roadblock for trans people, and should be increased or given exceptions for name changes with reason of gender affirmation.”
If the bill is passed, Queensland will be the latest state to join Victoria, Tasmania the Northern Territory, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory to allow people to change their gender identity without undergoing surgery.
VILIFIED
Ms Grover says she was “vilified” by trans rights activists after creating the app Giggle, a social networking app designed only for biological women and used for networking and freelancing work. It uses facial recognition to prevent trans-identified males from registering.
“It’s been utterly terrifying,” Grover recalled. “I’ve just had to sort of weather being cancelled.”
“We have so many companies that refuse to work with us.”
“All of the publications that I’ve spent my whole adult life reading won’t speak to me. It makes me go ‘Well, what else are they lying to me about?’” PC
